♦    f 


THE 


HISTORY    OF    ROME 


THOMAS„  KEI^HTLEY, 

UTHOB    OF   "THE     HISTORY     OF     GREECE,"    &C. 


TO   WHICH   IS   ADDED, 


A  CHRONOLOGICAL  TABLE  OF  CONTEMPORARY  HISTORY. 


BY 


JOSHUA   TOULMIN   SMITH, 

AUTHOR  OF    "  COMPARATIVE    VIIW    OF    ANCIENT   HIBTORT,   AKD 
EXPLANATION    OF   CHRONOLOGICAL   ERAS." 


1±^ 

BOSTON: 

BILLIARD,  GRAY,  AND   COMPANY. 

1839. 


1? 


V 


SLSX 


Entered  according  to  Act  of  Congress,  in  the  year  1839, 

By  Hilliard,  Gray,  and  Company, 
In  the  Clerk's  Office  of  the  District  Court  of  Massachusetts. 


STEREOTYPED  AT  THE  f   >< 

BOSTON  TYPE  AND  STEREOTYPE  FOUNDRY. 


PREFACE 


Encouraged  by  the  success  of  my  History  of  Greece,  I 
now  present  to  the  public,  and  particularly  to  those  who 
are  engaged  in  the  task  of  education,  that  of  Rome  simi- 
larly executed.  The  inadequacy  of  Goldsmith's  and  other 
compilations  to  convey  correct  historical  knowledge  is  now 
generally  felt  and  acknowledged,  and  works  of  a  higher 
order  are  required  for  education. 

Most  readers  are  aware  that  in  consequence  of  the  labors 
of  Niebuhr  (a  man  of  whom  I  never  can  either  think  or 
speak  but  with  admiration  and  respect)  the  history  of  the 
early  centuries  of  Rome  has  assumed  an  entirely  new  char- 
acter. These  new  views  should  be  known,  and  I  have 
therefore  introduced  them  ;  but  as  every  one  may  not  be 
disposed  to  acquiesce  in  them,  I  have,  though  convinced  of 
their  general  soundness,  kept  them  distinct  from  the  common 
narrative,  which  I  have  given  in  all  the  fulness  that  my 
limits  would  allow ;  and  teachers  will  use  their  discretion 
with  respect  to  the  chapters  which  contain  them.  In  the 
Second  Part  of  this  work  I  have  followed  this  writer's  nar- 
rative, as  it  would  have  been  presumption  in  me  to  do 
otherwise.  The  study  of  Niebuhr's  own  work  I  however 
most  strongly  recommend  to  every  one ;  and  I  can  answer 
with  confidence  for  the  correctness  and  fidelity  of  the  trans- 
lation of  it  by  MM.  Hare  and  Tbirlwall. 

It  may  startle  some  readers  to  find  so  much  of  the  early 
Roman  history  treated  as  fabulous,  and  Rome's  first  two 
kings  presented  as  the  mere  creations  of  imagination.  Their 
surprise  I  can  assure  them  arises  entirely  from  ignorance  of 
mythology  as  a  science ;  for  were  they  well  acquainted  with 
its  principles,  it  would  probably  be  of  another  kind,  and  they 
would  wonder  how  such  palpable  fictions  ever  came  to  pass 
for  realities.  I  have  labored,  and  1  hope  with  success,  to 
raise  mythology  from  the  contempt  in  which  it  has  long  lain 


IV  PREFACE.  • 

in  this  country,  and  I  look  forward  to  its  enjoying  the  full 
share  of  consideration  which  it  deserves. 

As  I  find  that  my  other  works  have  already  made  their 
way  into  some  highly  respectable  ladies*  schools,  and  know- 
ing to  what  ridicule,  though  unjustly,  the  wrong  accentua- 
tion of  classic  names  exposes  people,  I  have  followed  the 
Greeks  in  circumflexing  the  penultimate  syllables  when 
long  otherwise  than  by  position  or  the  union  of  consonants. 
The  apex  which  I  have  employed  is  constantly  used  in 
marking  the  long  vowels  in  Oriental  words,  and  it  is  more 
agreeable  to  the  eye  than  an  accent,  or  the  mark  of  long 
quantity.  Thus  Cethegus  and  Perperna  have  both  the 
accent  on  the  penultimate  syllable,  while  in  Catulus,  Han- 
nibaly  and  others,  it  is  on  the  antepenultimate. 

I  take  this  opportunity  of  informing  the  heads  of  schools, 
that  if  life  and  health  are  spared  me  I  propose  writing  a 
volume  of  Roman  Antiquities  as  a  companion  to  the  present 
work.  I  shall  feel  most  grateful  to  those  who  will  point 
out  to  me  any  defects  or  omissions  they  may  discover  in  my 
works,  and  I  now  return  my  thanks  to  those  who  have  done 
so  in  my  Greece,  and  assure  them  that  their  suggestions 
will  be  attended  to  in  the  next  edition.  I  would  finally 
request  that  my  History  of  Greece  should  be  always  read 
before  that  of  Rome  ;  for  as  I  regard  these  works  as  one 
whole,  it  is  frequently  referred  to  in  the  following  pages. 

T.  K. 

London,  Dec.  15th,  1835. 


In  this  Second  edition  a  few  corrections  and  improve- 
ments have  been  made.  I  am  happy  to  be  able  to  add  that 
the  First  volume  of  my  History  of  England,  containing  the 
history  from  the  earliest  times  to  the  end  of  the  House  of 
Tudor,  is  in  the  press,  and  will  be  published  before  mid- 
summer. The  Second  and  concluding  volume  will  follow 
it  with  all  convenient  speed. 

Lo5DON,  April,  1837. 


CONTENTS. 


PART  I. 

THE  REGAL  PERIOD. 


CHAPTER  I.  PAGE. 

Description  of  Italy. — Ancient  Inhabitants  of  Italy.  —  The  Pelasffians. 

—  The    Oscans.  —  The    Launs. — The   Umbrians.  —  The   Sabellians. 

—  The  Etruscans.  —  The  Lig^urians.  —  The  Italian    Greeks.  —  Italian 
Religion.  —  Political  Constitution 1 

CHAPTER  II. 

iEneas  and  the  Trojans.  —  Alba.  —  Numitor  and  Amulius.  —  Romulus 
ajid  Remus.  —  Building  of  Rome.  —  Reign  of  Romulus.  —  Roman  Con- 
stitution. —  Numa  Pompilius.  —  TuUus  Hostilius.  —  Adcus  Marcius.  ...       8 

CHAPTER  III. 

L.  Tarquinius  Priscus.  —  Servius  Tullius.  —  L.  Tarquinius  Superbus. — 
Tale  of  Lucretia.  —  Abolition  of  Royalty.  —  Conspiracy  at  Rome.  — 
Death  of  Brutus.  —  War  with  Porsenna.  —  Battle  of  the  Regillus 20 

CHAPTER  IV. 

The  Regal  Period  of  Rome,  according  to  the  views  of  Niebuhr. 37 

CHAPTER  V. 

The  Origin  and  Progress  of  the  Roman  Constitution  according  to  Nie- 
buhr     45 


.  '  PART   11. 
THE  REPUBLIC  — CONQUEST  OF  ITALY. 


CHAPTER  I. 

Beginning  of  the  Republic.  —  The  Dictatorship.  —  Roman  Law  of  Debt.  -^ 
Distress  caused  b/the  Law  of  Debt.— Secession  to  the  Sacred  Mount 
A* 


VI  CONTENTS. 

PAOK. 

—  The  Tribunate.  —  Latin  Constitution.  —  Treaty  with  the  Latins.  — 
War  with  the  Volsciaus.  —  Treaty  wiih  the  Hernicans 67 

CHAPTER  IL 

The  public  Land.  —  Affrarian  Law  of  Spurius  Cassius.  —  The  Consulate.  — 
Volscian  Wars.  —  Valentine  War.  —  The  Fabii  at  the  Cremera.  —  Sieee 
of  Rome.  —  Murder  of  the  Tribune  Genucius.  —  Rogation  of  Volero  Pub- 
liUus.  —  Defeat  of  the  Roman  Army.  —  Death  of  Appius  Claudius 68 

CHAPTER  m. 

Volscian  War.  —  Legend  of  Coriolanus.  —  The  Terentilian  Law.  —  Sei- 
zure of  the  Capitol  by  the  Exiles.  —  Dictatorship  of  Cincinnatus.  —  The 
first  Decemvirate.  —  The  second  Decemvirate.  —  Sicinius  Dentatus.  — 
Fate  of  Virginia.  —  Abolition  of  the  Decemvirate 81 

CHAPTER  IV. 

Victories  of  Valerius  and  Horatius. — Canuleian  Law.  —  Censorship  and 
military  Tribunate.  —  Feud  at  Ardea.  —  Sp.  Mselius.  —  iEquian  and 
Volscian  War.  —  Capture  of  Fidenw. —  Volscian  War.  — Murder  of 
Postumius  by  his  own  Soldiers. —  Veientine  War.  — Capture  of  Veii.-^ 
Siege  of  Falerii.  —  Exile  of  Camillus. 99 

CHAPTER  V. 

The  Gauls. — Their  Invasion  of  Italy. — Siege  of  Clusium. —  Battle  of  the 
Alia.  —  Takinff  of  Rome.  —  Rebuilding  of  the  City. —  Distress  of  the 
People.  —  M.  Manlius.  —  The  Licinian  Rogdtions.  —  Pestilence  at  Rome 

—  M.  Curtius.  —  Hernican  War. — Combat  of  Manlius  andaGaul.— >■ 
Gallic  and  Tuscan  Wars.  —  Combat  of  Valerius  and  a  Gaul.  —  Reduc- 
tion of  the  Rate  of  Interest 113 


CHAPTER  VL 

First  Samnite  War.  —  Mutiny  in  the  Roman  Army.  —  Peace  with  the  Sam-' 
nites.  —  Latin  War.  —  Manlius  put  to  Death  by  his  Father.  —  Battle  of 
Vesuvius,  and  Self-devotion  of  Declus.  —  Reduction  of  Latium.  —  Pub- 
lilian  Laws.  —  Second  Samnite  War.  —  Severity  of  the  Dictator  Papirius. 

—  Surrender  at  the  Caudine  Forks.  —  Capture  of  Sora.  —  Tuscan  Wau". 

—  Passage  of  the  Ciminian  Wood.  —  Samnite  and  Tuscan  Wars. — 
Peace  with  the  Samnites 131 


CHAPTER  VII. 

Third  Samnite  and  Etruscan  Wars.  —  Battle  of  Sentinum,  and  Self-de- 
votion of  Decius.  —  Battle  of  Aquilonia.  —  Reduction  of  the  Samnites. 
—  Hortensian  Law.  —  Worship  of  ^sculapius  introduced.  —  Lucanian 
War.  —  Roman  Embassy,  insulted  at  Tarentum.  —  Gallic  and  Etruscan 
War 161 


CHAPTER   VIII. 

Arrival  of  Pyrrhus  in  Italy.  —  Battle  on  the  Siris.  —  Cineas  at  Rome.—- 
Appioachof  Pyrrhus  to  Rome.  —  Battle  of  Asculum.  —  Pyrrhus  in  Sici- 


CONTENTS.  Vll 

PAGE. 

ly.  —  Battle  of  Beneventum.  —  Departure  of  Pyrrhus.  —  Italian  Allies. 
—  Censorship  of  Ap.  Claudius.  —  Change  in  the  Constitution.  —  The 
Roman  Legion.  —  Roman  Literature • 161 


PART   III. 


THE   REPUBLIC  — CONQUEST  OF    CARTHAGE   AND 
MACEDONIA. 


CHAPTER  L 

Carthage.  —  First  Punic  War.  —  Siege  of  Agrigentum.  —  Roman  Flfeet.  — 
Naval  Victory  of  Duilius.  —  Invasion  of  Africa.  —  Defeat  and  Capture  of 
Regulus.  —  Losses  of  the  Romans  at  Sea.  —  Battle  at  Panormus.  —  Death 
of  Kegulus.  —  Defeat  of  Claudius.  —  Victory  at  the  ^gatian  Isles.  — 
Peace  with  Carthage.  —  Effects  of  the  War 174 

CHAPTER  II. 

Civil  War  at  Carthage.  —  Illyrian  War.— Gallic  Wars ^..i...i..i90 


CHAPTER  III. 

Conquests  of  the  Carthaginians  in  Spain.  —  Taking  of  Saguntum.  — 
March  of  Hannibal  for  Italy.  —  Hannibal's  Passage  of  the  Alps.  —  Bat- 
tle of  the  Ticinus.  —  Battle  of  the  Trebia.  —  Battle  of  the  Trasimene 
Lake.  —  Hannibal  and  Fabius  Cimctator.  —  Battle  of  Cannse.— Prog- 
ress of  Hannibal 194 


CHAPTER  IV. 

Hannibal  in  Campania.- — Defeat  of  Postumius.  —  Affairs  of  Spain.— 
Treaty  between  Hannibcd  and  King  Philip.  —  Hannibal  repulsed  at 
Nola.  —  Success  of  Hanno  in  Bruttium.  —  Affairs  of  Sardinia,  —  of 
Spain,  —  of  Sicily.  —  Elections  at  Rome.  ^- Defeat  of  Hanno. — Siege 
of  Syracuse.  • — Affairs  of  Spain  and  Africa.  —  Taking  of  Tarentum.— 
Successes  of  Hannibal 212 


CHAPTER  V. 

Taking  of  Syracuse.  —  Defeat  and  Death  of  the  Scipios.  —  Hannibal's 
March  to  Rome.  —  Surrender  of  Capua.  —  Spmjp  \iy  Sn;un.  —  Taking 
of  New  Carthage.  —  Affairs  in  Italy.  —  Retaking"  of  Tarentum.  — 
Defeat  of  Hasdrubal  in  Spain.  —  Death  of  Marcellus.  —  March  of  Has- 
drubal.  — His  Defeat  on  the  Metaurus ,..,..,..,...«.....*..«<  225 


Vlli  CONTENTS. 


CHAPTER  VI. 


Successes  of  Sciplo  in  Spain.  —  Mutiny  in  his  Army.  —  Carthaginians  ex- 
pelled from  Spain. — Scipio's  Return  to  Rome.  —  His  Preparations  for 
invading  Africa.  —  Inva^iion  of  Africa.  —  Horrible  Destruction  of  a  Punic 
Army.  —  Defeat  of  the  Carthaginians.  —  Attack  on  the  Roman  Fleet.  — 
Death  of  Sophonisba.  —  Return  of  Hannibal.  —  Interview  of  Hannibal 
andScipio.  — Battle  of  Zama.  — End  of  the  War 237 


CHAPTER  VII. 

Macedonian  War.  —  Flight  of  Hannibal  from  Carthage.  —  Antiochns  in 
Greece.  —  Invasion  of  Asia  and  Defeat  of  Antiochus.  —  Death  of  Han- 
nibal. —  Last  Days  of  Scipio.  —  Characters  of  Hannibal  and  Scipio.  — 
War  with  Perseus  of  Macedonia  —  Conquest  of  Macedonia.  — Triumph 
ofiEmilius  Paulus 263 


CHAPTER  Vni. 

Affairs  of  Carthage.  —  Third  Punic  War.  —  Description  of  Carthage. — 
111  Success  of  the  Romans.  —  Scipio  made  Consul.  — He  saves  jWaui- 
cinus.  —  Restores  Discipline  in  the  Army.  —  Attack  on  Carthage.  —  At- 
tempt to  close  the  Haroor. — Capture  and  Destruction  of  Carthage.— 
Reduction  of  Macedonia  and  Greece  to  Provinces 264 


CHAPTER  IX. 

■^^jrflirfS'^WT'"  —  War  with  the  Lusitanians.  —  Treachery  of  Lucullus.  — 
Viriathiah  War.  —  Murder  of  Viriathus.  —  Numantine  War.  —  Capture 
of  Numantia.  —  Servile  War  in  Sicily.  —  Foreign  Relations  of  Rome.  — 
Government  of  the  Provinces.  —  The  Publicans,  —  Roman  Superstition. 
Romam  Literature 275 


PART    IV. 


TIIE  REPCJBLTC  — CONQUEST  OF    THE    EAST,  AND 
DOWNFALL  OF  THE  CONSTITUTION. 


CHAPTER  I. 

State  of  Things  at  Rome.— 'Tibprius  Gracchus  :  —  his  Tribunate  and  Laws  : 
—  his  Death. —  Death  of  Scipio  Africanus.  — •  Caius  Gracchus:  —  his 
Tribunates  and  Laws  :  —  his  Death.  —  The  Gracchi  and  their  Measures, 
'i- insolence  and  Cruelty  of  the  Oligarchs.  —  Conquests  in  Asia  and  Gaul  290 


CONTENTS.  IX 


•       CHAPTER  II. 

PAGE. 

The  Jugurthine  War.  —  Defeat  and  Death  of  AdherbaK  —  Bestia  Mi»A.frica. 
—  Jugurtha  at  Rome.  —  Defeat  of  Aulus.  —  Metellus  in  Africa.  —  At- 
tack on  Zama.  —  Negotiations  with  Juffurtha.  —  Taking  of  Thala. — 
Caius  Marius.  —  Taking  of  Causa.  —  Taking  of  the  Castle  on  the  Mulu- 
cha.  —  Sulla  and  Bocchus.  —  Delivery  up  of  Jugurtha.  —  His  End. — 
Cimbric  War.  —  Victory  at  Aquae  Sextiee.  —  Victory  at  Vercellse. — 
Insurrection  of  the  Slaves  in  Sicily 309 


CHAPTER  HI. 

State  of  Rome.  — Tribunate  of  Saturninus.  —  His  Sedition  and  Death.  — 
Return  of  Metellus.  —  Tribunate  and  Death  of  Drusus.  —  Social  or  Marstc 
War. — Murder  of  the  Praetor  by  the  Usurers.  —  Sedition  of  Marius  and 
Sulpicius.  —  Sulla  at  Rome.  —  Flight  of  Marius 


CHAPTER  IV. 

State  of  Asia.  —  First  Mithridatic  War.  —  Sulla  in  Greece.  —  Victories  of 
Chgeronea  and  Orchomenus.  —  Peace  with  Mithridates.  —  Flaccus  and 
Fimbria.  —  Sedition  of  Cinna.  —  Return  of  Marius.  —  Cruelties  of  Marius 
and  Cinna.  —  Death  and  Character  of  Marius.  —  Return  of  Sulla.  —  His 
Victories.  — ■  Proscriptions  of  Sulla.  —  His  Dictatorship  and  Laws.  —  He 
lays  down  his  Office,  and  retires. — His  Death  and  Funeral.  —  His 
Character 33? 


CHAPTER   V. 

Sedition  of  Lepidus.  —  Sprtoian  ^pf  in  Snai|i.  —  Death  of  Sertorius  and 
end  of  the  War.  — ^^partacian  or  (Jladiatorial  War.  —  Defeat  and 
Death  of  Spartacus.  —  Consulate  of  Pompeius  and  Crassus.  •— Piratic 
War.  —  Reduction  of  Crete 353 


CHAPTER  VI. 

Second  Mithridatic  War.  —  Third  Mithridatic  War.  — Victories  of  Lucul- 
lus.  —  His  Justice  to  the  Provincials.  —  War  with  Tigranes.  —  Defeat  of 
Tigranes.  —  Taking  of  Tigranocerta.  —  Invasion  of  Armenia.  —  Defeat 
of  a  Roman  Army.  —  Intrigues  of  LucuUus'  Enemies  at  Rome.  — Man- 
ilian  Law. —  Pompeius  in  Asia.  —  Defeat  of  Mithridates.  —  Pompeius  in 
Armenia  :  —  in  Albania  and  Iberia  :  —  in  Syria  and  the  Holy  Land. — 
Death  of  Mithridates.  —  Return  £md  Triumph  of  Pompeius 362 

CHAPTER  VH. 

Catilina's  Conspiracy. — Arrest  and  Execution  of  the  Conspirators.  —  Defeat 
and  Death  of  Catilina.  —  Honors  given  to  Cicero.  —  Factious  Attempts  at 
Rome.  —  Clodius  violates  the  Mysteries  of  the  Bona  Dea.  —  His  Trial..  376 

CHAPTER  Vni. 

Pompeius  and  Lucullus.  —  C.  Julius  Caesar.  — M.  Licinius  Crassus.  —  M. 
Porcius  Cato.  —  M.  TuUius  Cicero.  —  Pompeius  at  Rome.  —  Consulate 

b 


:  CONTENTS. 

PAGE. 

of  Ceesar.  —  Exile  of  Cicero.  —  Robbery  of  the  King  of  Cyprus.  —  Recall 

of  Cicero.  —  His  Conduct  after  his  Return 384 


CHAPTER  IX. 

Second  Consulate  of  Pompeius  and  Crassus.  —  Parthian  War  of  Crassus. 
—  His  Defeat  and  Deatn.  —  Anarchy  at  Rome..^  Death  of  Clodius.  — 
Pompeius  sole  Consul.  —  Trial  and  Exile  of  Milo.  — Gallic  Wars  of 
Casar 399 


CHAPTER  X. 

Commencement  of  the  Civil  War.  —  Ceesar  at  Rome.  —  CeesarVWayn 
Soaip.  —  Surrender  of  Massilia.  —  Caesar's  civil  RegulatiABI.  —  Military 
Tvents  in  Epirus 416 

CHAPTER  XI. 

Battle  of  Pharsalia.  —  Flight  and  Death  of  Pompeius.  —  His  Character.  — 
Caesar's  Alexandrian  War.  —  The  Pontic  War.  —  Affairs  of  Rome.  — 
Mutiny  of  Caesar's  Legions.  —  African  War.  —  Death  of  Cato.  —  His 
Character.  —  Caesar's  Triumphs.  —  Reformation  of  the  Calendar.  — ^ggj 
ond  Spanish  W^.  —  Battle  of  Munda.  —  Honors  bestowed  on  Caesar.  — 
Conspiracy  against  him.  —  His  Death.  —  His  Character 428 

CHAPTER  XII.  ^ 

Affairs  at  Rome  after  Caesar's  Death.  —  His  Funeral.  —  Conduct  of  Anto- 
nius.  —  Octavius  at  Rome.  —  Quarrel  between  him  and  Antonius.  —  Mu- 
tinensian  War.  —  Ctesar  made  Consul.  —  The  Triumvirate  and  Proscrip- 
tion. —  Death  of  Cicero.  —  H«  Character.  — ,  Acts  .o(  the  Triumvirs.  — 
War  with  Brutus  and  Cassius.  —  Battle  of  Philippi.  —  Death  of  Brutus 
and  Cassius.  —  Antonius  and  Cleopatra.  —  Caesar's  Distribution  of  Lands. 
— 'Perusian  War.  —  Return  of  Antonius  to  Italy.  —  War  with  Sex. 
Pompeius.  —  Parthiam  War.  —  Rupture  between  Caesar  and  Antonius. 
—  Battle  of  Actium. — Last  Efforts  of  Antonius.  —  Death  of  Antonitfs 
and  Cleopatra.  —  Sole  Dominion  of  Caesar.  —  Conclusion 446 


Chronological  Table  of  Contemporary  History 478 


PRELIMINARY    NOTICES. 


Roman  Chronology. 

The  taking  of  the  City  by  the  Gauls  is  the  event  which  was  used 
to  connect  the  Grecian  and  Roman  chronology,  from  which  360  years 
were  reckoned  back  to  the  foundation  of  Rome.  By  some  that  event 
was  placed  in  01.  98,  1,  B.  C.  388 ;  by  others  in  Ol.  98,  2,  B.  C.  387. 
Fabius,  taking  the  former  without  a  necessary  correction  of  four  years, 
placed  the  building  of  Rome  in  Ol.  8,  1,  B.C.  747;  Cato,  from  the 
same  date  with  the  correction,  in  01.  7, 1,  B.  C.  751 ;  Polybius  and 
Nepos,  taking  the  latter  date  with  the  correction,  in  01.  7,  2,  B.  C. 
750;  while  Varro  placed  it  in  Ol.  6,  3,  B.C.  753.  The  eras  in  use 
are  the  Catonian,  Varronian,  and  that  of  the  Capitoline  Marbles,  (as 
they  are  called,)  which  is  a  mean  between  those  two;  the  date  of  the 
commencement  of  our  era  being  752  Cat.,  753  Cap.  Mar.,  754  Varr. 
The  Catonian  is  that  used  in  the  following  pages,  and  the  year  B.  C. 
may  always  be  obtained  by  subducting  any  given  date  from  752. 

Roman  Money. 

The  lowest  Roman  coin,  the  jis,  was  originally  a  pound  weight  of 
brass,  {(ss,)  but  it  was  gradually  reduced  to  half  an  ounce.  The  Ses- 
terce {sestertius,  i.  e.  semis-tertius)  contained  2^  asses,  and  was  usually 
expressed  by  HS.  (an  abbreviation  of  L.  Li  S.  Libra,  libra,  semis,  or  of 
1.1.^.)     The  Denar  (denarius)  contained  10  (deni)  asses. 

As  the  Greek  talent  was  equal  to  24,000  sesterces,  four  sesterces 
(that  is,  ten  asses  or  one  denar)  were  equal  to  one  drachma. 

The  As  is  usually  said  to  be  equal  to  ^^^q-,  and  the  sesterce  to  Id. 
'S%q.  of  our  money ;  but  if  the  Greek  drachma  be  worth  9|rf.,  (see 
Hist,  of  Greece,)  the  sesterce  is  equal  to  2^^^. ;  the  As  is  therefore 
nearly  equivalent  to  an  English  penny,  and  the  denar  to  a  French 
franc. 

Roman  Measures  of  Length  and  Breadth. 

The  Roman  Foot  was  equal  to  11.604  English  inches.  Five  feet 
made  the  Pace  (passus)  =  4  feet  10.02  inches;  1000  paces  (mille 
passus)  are  called  the  Roman  Mile,  a  word  derived  from  mille. 


XU  PRELIMINARY    NOTICES. 

The  Roman  Jictus  was  a  square  of  120  feet,  containing  therefore 
14,400  square  feet ;  two  Actus  made  the  Juger,  (from  jugum,)  which 
consequently  measured  240  feet  by  120. 

Roman  JVames. 

The  Romans  had  two,  three,  four,  or  more  names :  1,  The  nomen, 
or  Gentile  name,  (that  of  their  gens,)  as  Julius,  Furius ;  no  Roman 
was  without  this  name ;  it  always  ended  in  itis.  2,  The  prcenomen, 
or  Christian  name,  as  we  may  term  it,  as  Aulus,  Caius,  ending  (the 
antiquated  Kaeso,  Lar,  Opiter,  Agrippa,  and  Volero  excepted)  in  us. 
3,  The  cognomen,  or  family  name,  as  Scipio,  Sulla,  Marcellus.  4, 
The  agnomen,  or  name  of  honor,  as  AfricAnus.  Ex.  gr.  Publius  Cor- 
nelius Scipio  Africdnus. 

The  abbreviations  of  the  preenomina  are  as  follow : 

A.  Aulus;  Ap.  or  App.  Appius;  C.  Caius;  Cn.  Cnssus;  D.  De- 
cimus;  K.  Kseso  or  Caeso ;  L.  Lucius;  Mam.  Maraercus;  M.  Mar- 
cus; M'.  Manius;  N.  Numerius;  P.  Publius;  Q.  Q,uintus ;  S.  or 
Sex.  Sextus ;  Ser.  Servius ;  Sp.  Spurius ;  T.  Titus ;  Ti.  or  Tib. 
Tiberius. 

These  prsenomina  (Appius  and  Ceeso  excepted)  were  common  to 
most  families ;  the  more  unusual  ones  were  peculiar  to  some  families  : 
thus  none  but  the  Menenii  and  Furii  bore  that  of  Agrippa,  none 
but  the  Fabii,  Quinctii,  Atinii  and  Duilii  that  of  Caeso ;  the  Cominii 
and  iEbutii  alone  bore  that  of  Postumius ;  Volero  was  peculiar  to 
the  Publilii,  Opiter  to  the  Virginii,  Lar  to  the  Herminii,  Vopiscus  to 
the  Julii,  and  Appius  to  the  piatrician  Claudii. 

Women  had  not  a  praenoraen;  the  daughters  of  a  Fabius,  for 
example,  were  called  Fabia  prima,  secunda,  etc. 

The  Romans  when  adopted  placed  their  own  gentile  or  family 
name  last :  thus,  ^milius,  when  adopted  by  Scipio,  was  named  P. 
Cornelius  Scipio  iEmilianus ;  and  M.  Junius  Brutus,  when  adopted 
by  Csepio,  became  Q.  Servilius  Caepio  Brutus. 


THE 


HISTORY   OF  ROME 


PART  I. 

THE    REGAL    PERIOD, 


CHAPTER  I. 

DESCR,IPTION  OF  ITALY. ANCIENT  INHABITANTS  OF  ITALY. 

THE     PELASGIANS. THE    OSCANS.  THE    LATINS. THJl.  ,    , 

UMBRIANS. THE  SABELLIANS. THE    ETRUSCANS. THE  .'M: 

LIGURIANS.  THE    ITALIAN  GREEKS. ITALIAN    RELIGION. 

—  POLITICAL  CONSTITUTION. 

The  peninsula  named  Italy,  the  seat  of  the  mighty  re- 
public whose  origin  and  history  we  have  undertaken  to 
relate,  is  separated  from  the  great  European  continent  by 
the  mountain  range  of  the  Alps,  and  extends  about  five  • 
hundred  miles  in  a  south-eastern  direction  into  the  Medi- 
terranean Sea.  The  part  of  this  sea  between  Italy  and  the 
Hellenic  peninsula  was  named  the  Adriatic  or  Upper  Sea, 
{Mare  Superum ;)  that  on  the  west  toward  the  Iberian* 
peninsula,  the  Tyrrhenian  or  Lower  Sea,  (Mare  Tnferum.) 
A  mountain  range,  the  Apennines,  commences  at  the  Alps 
on  the  north-western  extremity  of  Italy,  and  runs  along  it 
nearly  to  its  termination,  sending  out  branches  on  either 
side  to  the  sea,  between  which  lie  valleys  and  plains  gene- 
rally of  extreme  fertility.  The  great  plain  in  the  north, 
extending  in  an  unbroken  level  from  the  Alps  to  the  Apen- 
nines and  the  sea,*  and  watered  by  the  Po  (Padus)  and 

*  Now  called  the  Plain  of  the  Po,  {La  Pianura  del  Po.)  v  **' 

1  A 


■#-  m 


ft 


X  HISTORY    OF    ROME. 

Other  streams,  is  the  richest  in  Europe;  and  that. of  Campa- 
nia, on  the  west  coast,  yields  to  it  in  extent  rather  than  in 
fertility.  The  rivers  which  descend  to  water  these  plains  and 
valleys  are  numerous  ;  and  many  of  them,  such  as  the  Po,  the 
Adige,  (AtesiSy)  the  Arno,  and  the  Tiber,  are  navigable. 

The  mountains  of  Italy  are  composed  internally  of  gran- 
ite, which  is  covered  with  formations  of  primary  and  sec- 
ondary limestone,  abounding  in  minerals,  and  in  ancient 
times  remarkably  prolific  of  copper.  The  white  marble  of 
Carrara,  on  the  west  coast,  is  not  to  be  rivalled.  Forests  of 
timber-trees  clothe  the  sides  of  the  Apennines  and  their 
kindred  ranges,  among  whose  lower  parts  lie  scattered  lakes 
of  various  size^,  many  of  them  evidently  the  craters  of  ex- 
tinct volcanoes.  The  western  side  of  Italy  has  been  at  all 
times  a  volcanic  region,  and  Mount  Vesuvius,  on  the  Bay 
of  Naples,  is  in  action  at  the  present  day. 

The  fruitful  Isle  of  Sicily,  with  its  volcanic  mountain 
iEtna,  lies  at  the  southern  extremity  of  Italy,  separated 
from  it  by  a. channel  five  miles  in  its  greatest,  two  in  its 
least,  breadth.  It  is  by  no  means  unlikely  that,  as  tradition 
told,  Italy  and  Sicily  were  once  continuous,  but  that,  at 
a  point  of  time  long  anterior  to  history,  a  convulsion  of 
nature  sank  the  solid  land,  and  let  the  sea  run  in  its  place. 
Besides  Sicily,  there  are  various  smaller  islands  attached  to 
Italy,  chiefly  along  its  west  coast,  of  which  the  most  re- 
markable are  the  volcanic  group  of  the  Liparean  isles  and 
the  Isle  of  Elba,  {Eva,)  which  has  at  all  times  been  produc- 
tive of  iron. 

The  magnificent  region  which  we  have  just  described,  so 
rich  in  all  the  gifts  of  nature,  has  never,  so  far  as  tradition 
and  analogies  enable  us  to  trace,  been  abandoned  by  Prov- 
idence to  the  dominion  of  rude  barbarians  living  by  the 
chace  and  the  casual  spontaneous  productions  of  the  soil, 
without  manners,  laws,  or  social  institutions.  To  ascertain, 
however,  its  exact  condition  in  the  times  anterior  to  history 
is  beyond  our  power ;  but  by  means  of  the  traditions  of  the 
Greeks,  and  the  existing  monuments  of  the  languages  and 
works  of  its  ancient  inhabitants,  we  are  enabled  to  obtain  a 
view  of  its  ante-Roman  state,  superior  perhaps  in  definite- 
ness  to  what  we  can  form  of  the  ante-Hellenic  condition  of 
Greece. 

Under  the  guidance  of  the  sharp-sighted  and  sagacious 
investigator  whose  researches  have  given  such  an  aspect  of 


ANCIENT    INHABITANTS    OF    ITALY.  3 

clearness  and  certainty  to  the  early  annals  of  Rome,*  we  will 
now  venture  to  pass  in  review  the  ancient  peoples  of  Italy. 

In  the  most  remote  ages  to  which  we  can  reach  by  con- 
jecture, Italy  was  the  abode  of  two  distinct  portions  of  the 
human  family,  different  in  language  and  in  manners;  the 
one  dwelling  on  the  coasts  and  plains,  the  other  possessing 
the  mountains  of  the  interior.  The  former  were  probably 
a  portion  of  that  extensive  race  which  we  denominate  the 
Pelasgian,  and  which  dwelt  also  in  Greece  and  Asia ;  t  the 
latter  were  of  unknown  origin,  and  no  inquiry  will  enable 
us  to  ascertain  any  thing  more  respecting  them,  than  that 
they  belonged  to  the  Caucasian  race  of  mankind.  We 
cannot,  by  means  of  language  or  any  other  tokens,  trace 
their  affinity  to  any  known  branch  of  the  human  kind,  or 
even  make  a  conjecture  as  to  the  time  and  mode  of  their 
entrance  into  Italy.  They  may  therefore,  under  proper  re- 
strictions, be  termed  its  indigenous  inhabitants. 

The  Pelasgians,  it  is  probable,  entered  Italy  on  the  north- 
east. Under  the  names  of  Liburnians  and  Venetians,  they 
possessed  probably  the  whole  plain  of  the  Po  and  the  east 
coast  down  to  Mount  Garganus ;  thence,  as  Daunians,  Peu- 
cetians,  and  Messapians,  they  dwelt  to  the  Bay  of  Tarentum 
and  inlands  ;  as  Chones,  Morgetes,  and  (Enotrians,  they  then 
held  the  country  from  sea  to  sea  to  the  extreme  end  of  the 
peninsula;  and  finally,  as  Tyrrhenians  and  Siculans,  dwelt 
along  the  west  coast  to  the  Tiber  ai^d  up  its  valley,  perhaps 
even  to  the  Umbro  (Ombrone)  in  Tuscany.  Italians  was 
the  name  of  the  people,  Italia  that  of  the  country,  south  of 
the  Tiber  and  of  Mount  Garganus.f 

The  Pelasgians  of  Italy  seem  to  have  been  similar  in  char- 
acter to  those  of  Greece.  We  find  various  traces  of  their 
devotion  to  the  pursuits  of  agriculture  ;  their  religion  ap- 
pears to,  have  been  of  a  rural  character  ;  and  Cyclopian  walls 
are  to  be  seen  in  some  of  the  districts  where  they  dwelt. 
If  they  entered  the  country  as  conquerors,  it  was  probably 
their  superior  civilization  which  gave  them  the  advantage 
over  the  ruder  tribes  which  occupied  it. 

At  length,  in  consequence  of  pressure  from  without,  or 
from  internal   causes,    such   as   excess   of  population,   the 

*  G.  B.  Niebuhr,  with  whom  K.  O.  Mailer,  in  his  Etruscans,  {Die 
EtTusker,)  in  general  agrees. 

t  See  History  of  Greece,  Part  I.  chap.  ii. 

X  Those  skilled  in  etymology  will  easily  see  ihsX  Italus  and  Siculus 
are  but  different  forms  of  the  same  word. 


4  BISTORT   OP    ROME. 

tribes  of  the  interior  came  down  on  and  conquered  the  peo- 
ple of  the  coasts  and  plains.  A  people  named  Opicans,  or 
Oscans,  overcame  the  Daunians  and  other  peoples  of  the 
east  coast,  and  the  region  thus  won  was  named  from  them 
'^  Apulia;  they  also  made  themselves  masters  of  the  country 

thence  across  to  the  west  coast,  and  along  it  up  toward  the 
Tiber.  Here  they  were  divided  into  the  Saticulans,  Si- 
dicinians,  Volscians,  and  iEquians,  while  Auruncans,  or 
Ausonians,  was  the  more  general  appellation  of  the  whole 
people.* 

Another  tribe,  named  Cascans  and  Priscans,t  who  are 
A  supposed  to  have  dwelt  in  the  mountains  from  the  Fucine 

Lake  to  Reate  and  Carseoli,  being  pressed  from  behind  by 
the  Sabines,  came  down  along  the  Anio  and  subdued  the 
Siculans,  named  Latins,  who  occupied  the  country  there- 
abouts. A  part  of  this  people  retired  southwards ;  and 
this  movement  gave,  it  is  said,  occasion  to  the  occupation 
of  the  Island  of  Sicily  by  the  Siculans ;  the  remainder  coa- 
lesced with  the  conquerors,  and  the  united  people  was  named 
Priscans  and  Latins,  (Prisci  Latini^\ )  or  simply  Latins,  and 
their  country  Latium. 

Further  north,  a  people  named  the  Umbrians  descended 
from  the  mountains  and  conquered  the  country  to  the  Po ; 
they  also  extended  themselves  to  the  sea  on  the  west  of  the 
Apennines,  and  down  along  the  valley  of  the  Tiber. 

The  Latin  language,  which  we  have  still  remaining,  is 
evidently  composed  of  two  distinct  elements,  one  akin  to 
the  Greek,  and  which  we  may  therefore  assume  to  be  Pe- 
lasgian,   the  other  of  a  totally  diifferent  character.^     The 

*  According  to  etymology,  the  root  being  op  or  AT,Opici,Osci,  Apuli^ 
Volsci,  Mqui,  are  all  kindred  terms.  We  might  perhaps  venture  to  add 
Umbri  and  Sabini.  Avsones  is  the  Greek  form  of  Auruni,  whence  Au- 
runici,  Aurunci.  The  Latin  language  luxuriates  in  adjectival  termi- 
nations. See  Niebuhr,  i.  69,  note  ;  and  Buttmann's  Lexilogus,  in  v. 
an  it]  yaia,  note. 

t  See  Niebuhr,  i.  78  and  371.  This  writer  (i.  79,  80)  says  that  it 
is  to  the  Latins  that  the  term  Aborigines^  answering  to  the  Autochthones 
of  the  Greeks,  belongs.  The  general  usage  of  ancient  and  modern 
writers  names  the  people  of  the  interior  the  Aborigines. 

X  It  was  the  old  Roman  custom  to  omit  the  copulative  between 
words  which  usually  appeared  in  union,  as  empti  venditi,  locati  con- 
Audi,  socii  Latini,  accensi  velati.  Like  Gothic  among  ourselves,  Cascus 
and  Priscus  came  to  signify  old  or  old-fashioned. 

§  In  the  Latin,  the  terms  relating  to  agriculture  and  the  gentler 
modes  of  life  are  akin  to  the  Greek  ;  those  belonging  to  war  and  the 
chase  are  of  a  different  character.    Of  the  former  we  may  instance 


THE    SABELLIANS.  5 

existing  monuments  in  the  Oscan  and  Umbrian  languages 
present  exactly  the  same  appearance,  and  the  foreign  element 
seems  to  be  the  same  in  all.  Hence  it  may  without  pre- 
sumption be  inferred,  that  kindred  tribes  speaking  the  same, 
or  dialects  of  the  same  language,  conquered  and  coalesced 
with  the  Pelasgians,  and  new  languages  were  formed  by  inter- 
mixture, just  as  the  English  arose  from  the  Anglo-Saxon  and 
the  Norman-French. 

The  people  who  are  supposed  to  have  given  totheCascans 
and  Oscans  the  impulse  which  drove  them  down  on  the 
Pelasgians,  are  the  Sabines,  who  dwelt  about  Amiternum  in 
the  higher  Apennines.  The  Sabellian  race  (under  which 
name  we  include  the  Sabines  and  all  the  colonies  which 
issued  from  them)  was  evidently  akin  to  those  above  men- 
tioned, for  there  can  be  little  doubt  of  their  language  being 
the  non-Pelasgic  part  of  the  Latin  and  Oscan.  This  race 
spread  rapidly  on  all  sides.  The  Sabines,  properly  so  called, 
having  occupied  the  country  of  the  Cascans,  gradually 
pushed  on  along  the  valley  of  the  Tiber  into  Latium ;  the 
Picenians  settled  on  the  coast  of  the  Adriatic;  the  four 
allied  cantons  of  the  Marsians,  Marrucinians,  Vestinians, 
and  Pelignians  dwelt  to  the  south  of  them  and  the  Sabines  ; 
and  below  them  were  the  Samnites,  divided  into  the  cantons 
of  the  Frentanians,  Hirpinians,  Pentrians,  and  Caudines, 
who  conquered  the  mountain-country  of  the  Oscans,  hence- 
forth named  Samnium.  At  a  later  period,  (about  the  year 
of  Rome  314,)  the  Samnites  made  themselves  masters  of 
Campania  and  the  country  to  the  Silarus.  Under  the  name 
of  Lucanians  they  also  conquered,  much  about  the  same 
time,  the  country  south  of  Samnium,  the  more  southern 
part  of  which  was  afterwards  wrested  from  them  by  the 
Bruttians,  a  people  which  arose  out  of  the  mercenary  troops 
employed  by  the  Lucanians  and  Italian  Greeks  in  their 
wars,  and  the  CEnotrian  serfs  of  the  latter.*  Another  Sa- 
bellian people  were  the  Hernicans,  who  possessed  a  hilly 
region  south  of  Latium  in  the  midst  of  the  JEquian  and 
Volscian  states. 

Different  in  origin,  language,  and  manners  from  all  the 

bos,  taurus,  sus,  ovis,  agnus,  canis,  ager,  silva,  vinum,  lac,  mel,  sal,  oleum, 
malum  ;  of  the  latter,  arma,  tela,  hasta,  ensis,  gladius,  arcus,  sagitta, 
clupeus,  cassis,  balteus.     (Niebuhr,  i.  82.     Mailer,  i.  17.) 

*  In  Oscan,  and  perhaps  in  old  Latin,  brutus  signified  a  runaway 
slave,  a  maroon.    Names  of  reproach  have  often  been  acquiesced  in 
by  peoples  and  parties ;  witness  our  Whig  and  Tory. 
1  * 


6  HISTORT   OF   ROME. 

tribes  already  enumerated  were  the  people  named  by  them- 
selves Rasena,  by  the  Romans,  Etruscans  and  Tuscans, 
who  occupied  the  country  between  the  Tiber  and  the  Arno, 
and  also  dwelt  in  the  plain  of  the  Po.  The  common  opin- 
ion was  that  they  were  a  colony  from  Maeonia  or  Lydia 
in  Asia,  who  landed  on  the  coast  of  Etruria,  where  they  re- 
duced the  inhabitants  to  serfship,  and,  afterwards  crossing 
the  Apennines,  conquered  the  country  thence  to  the  Alps. 
Against  this  it  was  urged  *  that  there  was  not  the  slightest 
similarity  in  manners,  language,  or  religion  between  them 
and  the  Lydians,  and  that  the  latter  retained  no  tradition 
whatever  of  the  migration.  It  has  been  further  remarked  t 
that  the  Raetians  and  other  Alpine  tribes  were  of  the  Tus- 
can race ;  and  it  is  so  highly  improbable  that  the  owners 
of  fruitful  plains  should  covet  the  possession  of  barren 
mountains,  that  it  is  more  reasonable  to  suppose  them  to  have 
dwelt  originally  among,  or  northwards  of,  the  Alps,  and 
that  being  pressed  on  by  the  Germans,  Celts,  or  some  other 
people,  they  descended  and  made  conquests  in  Italy.| 
Their  language,  as  far  as  it  is  understood,  has  not  the 
slightest  resemblance  to  any  of  the  primitive  languages  of 
Europe  or  Asia;  their  religious  system  and  their  science 
were  also  peculiar  to  themselves ;  the  love  of  pomp  and 
state  also  distinguished  them  from  the  Greeks  and  other 
European  peoples.  Taken  all  together,  they  are  perhaps  the 
most  enigmatic  people  in  history. 

The  Tuscan  political  number  was  twelve.  North  of  the 
Apennines  twelve  cities  or  states  formed  a  federation ;  the 
same  was  the  case  in  Etruria  Proper.§  Each  was  indepen- 
dent, ruling  over  its  district  and  its  subject  towns.  The 
Tuscan  Lucumones  or  nobles  were,  like  the  Chaldaeans,  a 

*  Dionysius,  i.  28. 

t  Niebuhr.  This  author  is  inclined  to  extend  the  original  seats  of 
the  Tuscans  far  north  even  to  Alsatia. 

+  Mailer  would  fain  reconcile  the  two  opinions.  He  regards  the 
Rasena  as  an  original  Italian  people  of  the  Apennines  and  plain  of  the 
Po,  who,  when  they  proceeded  to  conquer  Etruria  from  the  Umbrians 
and  Ligurians,  leagued  themselves  with  the  Tyrrhenian  Pelasgians 
from  the  coast  of  Asia  who  had  settled  on  the  coast.  Hence  he  ex- 
plains the  use  of  flutes,  trumpets,  and  other  usages,  common  to  the 
Tuscans  with  the  people  of  Asia. 

§  These  last,  Niebuhr  says,  are  Caere,  Tarquinii,  RusellsB,  Vetulo- 
nium,  VolaterrsB,  Arretium,  Cortona,  Clusium,  Volsinii,  Veii,  and  Ca- 

Kena  or  Cossa ;  of  the  former  he  can  only  name  Felsina  or  Bononia, 
lelpum,  Mantua,  Verona,  and  Hatria.  He  denies  that  the  Tuscans 
ever  settled  in  Campania,  as  was  asserted  by  the  ancients.  Mailer 
maintains  the  converse. 


THE    ITALIAN    GREEKS.  1 

sacerdotal  military  caste,  holding  the  religion  and  govern- 
ment of  the  state  in  their  exclusive  possession,  and  keeping 
the  people  in  the  condition  of  serfs.  In  some  of  their  cities, 
such  as  Veii,  there  were  elective  kings.  The  Lucuraones 
learned  the  will  of  heaven  from  thelightning  and  other  celes- 
tial phenomena ;  their  religion  was  gloomy,  and  abounding 
in  rites  and  ceremonies.  Both  the  useful  and  the  orna- 
mental arts  were  carried  to  great  perfection  in  Etruria. 
Lakes  were  let  off  by  tunnels,  swamps  rendered  fertile, 
rivers  confined,  huge  Cyclopian  walls  raised  round  towns. 
Statues,  vessels,  and  other  articles  were  executed  in  clay 
and  bronze  with  both  skill  and  taste.  These  arts,  however, 
may  have  been  known  and  exercised  by  the  subject  people 
rather  than  by  the  Tuscan  lords. 

The  Ligurians,  a  people  who  dwelt  without  Italy  from 
the  Pyrennees  to  the  maritime  Alps,  also  extended  into  the 
peninsula,  reaching  originally  south  of  the  Arno  and  east 
of  the  Ticinus.  They  were  neither  Celts  nor  Iberians,  but 
of  their  language  we  have  no  specimens  remaining. 

Such  were  the  peoples  of  Italy  in  the  ages  antecedent  to 
history.  About  the  time  of  the  Dorian  migration,  the 
Greeks  began  to  colonize  its  southern  part.  The  Chal- 
cidians  and  Eretrians  of  Euboea  founded  CumjE,  Parthenope, 
and  Neapolis  on  the  west  coast,  and  Rhegium  at  the  strait  ; 
Elea  (Velia)  was  built  on  the  same  coast  by  the  Phocaeans. 
On  the  east  coast,  Locri  was  a  colony  from  Ozolian  Locris ; 
and  it  founded  in  its  turn  Medma  and  Hipponium  on  the 
west  coast;  the  Achseans  were  the  founders  of  Sybaris,  Cro- 
ton,  and  Metapontum;  and  Sybaris  having  extended  her 
dominion  across  to  the  Lower  Sea,  founded  on  it  Laos  and 
Posidonia :  the  Crotonians  built  Caulon  on  the  Upper,  Terina 
on  the  Lower  Sea ;  and  Tarentum,  in  the  peninsula  of  Japy- 
gia,  was  a  settlement  of  the  Laced semonians.  The  ancient 
(Enotria  became  so  completely  Hellenised,  (its  original 
population  being  reduced  to  serfship,)  that  it  was  named 
Great  Greece  —  Magnd  GrcBcia.  The  flourishing  period, 
however,  of  these  Grecian  states,  Was  anterior  to  that  which 
our  history  embraces,  and  we  shall  have  occasion  only  to 
speak  of  them  in  their  decline. 

The  religion  of  the  two  original  portions  of  the  Italian 
population  was,  as  far  as  we  can  conjecture,  of  a  simple, 
rural  character.  It  does  not  seem  to  have  known  the  hor- 
rors of  human  sacrifice ;  and  though  polytheistic,  it  related 
no  tales  of  the  amours  of  its  gods,  and  no  Italian  princes 


8  HISTORT   OF   ROME. 

boasted  an  affinity  with  the  deities  whom  the  people  wor- 
shipped. Partly  from  this,  partly  from  other  causes,  the  tone 
of  morals  was  at  ail  times  higher  in  Italy,  especially  among 
the  Sabellian  tribes,  than  in  Greece.  A  remarkable  feature 
of  the  old  Italian  religion  was  the  immense  number  of  its 
deities;  *  every  act  of  life  had  its  presiding  power  ;  a  man 
was  ever  under  the  eye,  as  it  were,  of  a  superior  being :  the 
true  doctrine  of  the  omnipresence  of  the  one  God  was  thus, 
we  may  say,  resolved  into  the  separate  presence  of  a  multi- 
tude, the  moral  effect,  though  far  inferior,  was,  we  may 
hope,  similar.  Finally,  the  ancient  Italians  are  perhaps 
not  to  be  esteemed  idolaters,  as  images  of  the  gods  were 
unknown  among  them  till  they  became  acquainted  with 
Grecian  art. 

^he  prevailing  political  form  of  ancient  Italy  was  that  of 
aristocratic  republics  united  in  federations.  The  hereditary 
monarchy  of  the  heroic  age  of  Greece  was  unknown,  and 
the  pure  democracy  of  its  historic  period  never  developed 
itself  in  Italy.  Political  numbers  are  to  be  found  here  as  in 
Greece  and  elsewhere ;  four,  for  example,  was  the  Sabellian 
number;  thirty,  or  rather  perhaps  three  subdivided  by  ten, 
that  of  Latium.t  This  principle  extended  even  to  the  Tus- 
cans, whose  number,  as  we  have  seen,  was  twelve. 


CHAPTER  II.j: 

iENEAS  AND  THE  TROJANS. ALBA. NUMITOR  AND  AMULIUS. 

ROMULUS    AND    REMUS. BUILDING    OF    ROME. REIGN 

OF  ROMULUS. ROMAN  CONSTITUTION. NUMA  POMPILIUS. 

TULLUS  HOSTILIUS. ANGUS  MARCIUS. 

On  the  left  bank  of  the  river  Tiber,  at  a  moderate  distance 
from  the  sea,  lies  a  cluster  of  hills,§  which  were  the  destined 

*  When,  therefore,  Varro  spoke  of  30,000  gods,  he  must  have  meant 
the  Italian,  not  the  Grecian  system  ;  for  the  Olympian  deities,  even 
including  the  Nymphs,  never  extended  to  any  such  number. 

t  The  thirty  Latin  and  thirty  Alban  towns,  the  thirty  patrician 
curies  in  three  tribes,  and  the  thirty  plebeian  tribes  at  Rome. 

:{  The  principal  authorities  for  this  Part  are  Dionysius  and  Livy  ', 
and  Plutarch's  lives  of  Romulus,  Numa,  and  Poplicola. 

§  They  were  seven  in  number,  lying  in  the  following  order :  the 


^NEAS    AND    THE    TROJANS.  9 

seat  of  the  city  whose  dominion  gradually  extended  until 
it  embraced  the  greater  portion  of  the  then  known  world  ; 
and  whose  language,  laws,  and  institutions  gave  origin  to 
those  of  a  large  portion  of  modern  Europe. 

The  origin  and  early  history  of  this  mighty  city  have 
been  transmitted  to  us  by  its  most  ancient  annalists  in  the 
following  form.* 

When  the  wide-famed  Troy,  after  having  held  out  for  ten 
years  against  the  Achaean  arms,  was  verging  toward  its  fall, 
iEneas,  a  hero  whom  the  goddess  Venus  (Aphrodite)  had 
borne  to  a  Trojan  prince  named  Anchises,  resolved  to 
abandon  the  devoted  town.  Led  by  the  god  Mercurius, 
(Hermes,)  and  accompanied  by  his  father,  family,  and 
friends,  he  left  Troy  the  very  night  it  was  taken,  and  retired 
to  Mount  Ida,  where  he  remained  till  the  town  was  sacked 
and  burnt,  and  the  Ach<Eans  had  departed.  The  god,  con- 
tinuing his  care,  built  for  them  a  ship,  in  which  they  em- 
barked:  an  oracle  (some  said  that  of  Dodona)  directed  them 
to  sail  on  westwards,  till  they  came  to  where  hunger  would 
oblige  them  to  eat  their  tables,  and  told  them  that  a  four- 
footed  animal  would  there  guide  them  to  the  site  of  their 
future  abode.  The  morning-star  shone  before  them,  day 
and  night,  to  guide  their  course,  and  it  never  ceased  to  be 
visible  till  they  reached  the  coast  of  Latium  in  Italy. t  They 
landed  there  on  a  barren,  sandy  shore;  and  as  they  were 
taking  their  first  meal,  they  chanced  to  use  their  flat  cakes 
for  platters;  and  when,  at  the  conclusion  of  their  repast, 
they  began  to  consume  their  cakes  also,  JEneas'  young  son 
cried  out  that  they  were  eating  their  tables.  Struck  with 
the  fulfilment  of  a  part  of  the  oracle,  the  Trojans,  by  order 
of  their  chief,  brought  the  images  of  their  gods  on  shore: 
an  altar  was  erected,  and  a  pregnant  white  sow  led  to  it  as 
!  victim.  Suddenly  the  sow  broke  loose,  and  ran  into  tb^ 
country.     /Eneas,  with  a  few  companions,  fallowed   her  till 

Tarpeian  or  rapitoline,  the  Palatine,  and  the  A>vcntine  ailonof  the 
river;  the  Quirinal,  Viuiinal,  Esquiline,  and  Cselian,  behind  the  Tar- 
peian and  Palatine.  The  hill  named  the  Janiculan  was  on  the  oppo- 
site side  of  the  Tiber.  ' 

*  "  I  insist,"  says  Niebuhr,  ■"  in  behalf  of  my  Romans,  on  the  right 
of  taking  the  poetical  features  wherever  they  are  to  be  found,  wh<^n 
they  have  dropped  out  of  the  common  narrative."  The  dircumstaaces 
in  the  following  narrative,  differing  from  those  in  Livv  and  Virgil, 'tPiU 
be  found  in  Dionysius,Cato,  (in  Servius  on  the  iEneis,)  and  Ovid,  and 
other  poets. 

t  Varro  in  Servius  on  ^n.  ii.  801. 


10  HISTOilY    OP  HOME. 

she  reached  an  eminence  about  three  miles  from  the  sea, 
where,  exhausted  by  fatigue,  she  laid  her  down.  This  then, 
iEneas  saw,  was  the  site  designated  by  the  oracle ;  but  his 
heart  sank  when  he  viewed  the  ungenial  nature  of  the  sur- 
rounding soil,  and  the  adjacent  coast  without  a  haven.  He 
lay  that  night  on  the  spot  in  the  open  air;  and  as  he  pon- 
dered, a  voice  from  a  neighboring  wood  came  to  his  ear, 
directing  him  to  build  there  without  delay;  broad  lands, 
it  was  added,  awaited  himself,  and  wide  dominion  his  de- 
scendants, who,  within  as  many  years  as  the  sow  should 
farrow  young  ones,  would  build  a  larger  and  a  fairer  town. 
In  the  morning  he  found  that  the  sow  had  farrowed  thirty 
white  young  ones,  which  with  herself  he  offered  in  sacrifice 
to  the  gods.  He  led  his  people  thither,  and  commenced  the 
building  of  a  town.* 

The  country  in  which  the  Trojans  were  now  settling  was 
governed  by  a  prince  named  Latinus,  who,  on  hearing  that 
strangers  were  raising  a  town,  came  to  oppose  them.  He 
was,  however,  induced  to  allow  them  to  proceed,  and  he 
granted  them  seven  hundred  jugers  of  land  around  it.t  The 
harmony  which  prevailed  between  them  and  the  natives  was, 
however,  soon  disturbed  by  the  Trojans'  wounding  a  favorite ' 
stag  of  King  Latinus'.  This  monarch  took  up  arms;  he 
was  joined  by  Turnus,  the  Rutulian  prince  of  Ardea;  but 
victory  was  with  the  strangers;  Latinus'  capital,  Laurentum, 
was  taken,  and  himself  slain  in  the  storming  of  the  citadel.! 
His  only  daughter  Lavinia  became  the  prize  of  the  victor, 
who  made  her  his  wife,  and  named  his  town  from  her  La- 
vinium.<^ 

Turnus  now  applied  for  aid  to  Mezentius,  king  of  Caere 
in  Etruria.  The  Tuscan  demanded,  as  the  price  of  his  as- 
sistance, half  the  produce  of  the  vintage  of  Latium  in  the 
next  year,  and  the  Rutulians  readily  agreed  to  his  terms. 

*  According  to  Cato,(Serv.  on  iEn.  i.  6.  vii.  158,)  the  town  first  built 
bj  JEn^as  andAnchises  (who  also  reached  Italy)  was  not  on  the  future 
Bite  of  Lavinium,  and  it  was  named  Troja.  In  Latin,  troja  is  a  sow, 
hence  probably  the  legend  ;  alba  (white)  refers  to  Alba;  the  thirty 
young,  to  the  Latin  political  number. 

t  Supposing  that,  according  to  the  Roman  custom  hereafter  to  "be 
noticed,  this  was  7  jugers  a  man,  the  Trojans,  according  to  this  tradi- 
tion, were  but  100  in  number. 

t  Cato  in  Seryius  on  ^n.  ix.  745. 

§  The  reader  will  observe  how  this  differs  from  the  narrative  in 
Virgil.  We  may  take  it  as  a  rule,  that  the  rudest  and  most  revolting 
form  of  a  legend  is  its  most  ancient  one. 


NUMITOR   AND    AMULIUS.  11 

Their  united  arm's  encountered  those  of  the  Latins,  led  by 
iEneas,  on  the  banks  of  the  Numicius ;  Turnus  fell,  but  the 
Trojans  were  defeated,  ^neas  plunged  into  the  stream,  and 
never  more  was  seen,  and  after-ages  worshipped  him  on  its 
banks  as  Jupiter  Indiges.  The  Tuscans  then  beleaguered 
Lavinium ;  but  lulus,  the  son  of  iEneas,  having  vowed  the 
half-produce  of  the  vineyards  claimed  by  Mezentius  to  Ju- 
piter, led  forth  his  troops  to  battle.  The  favor  of  the  god 
was  with  this  pious  youth,  and  Mezentius  fell  by  his  hand. 

After  thirty  years,  lulus  left  the  low  sandy  coast,  and  led 
his  people  to  a  mountain  twelve  miles  inland,  on  the  side 
of  which  he  built  a  town,  named  Alba  Longa,  (Long  white,) 
from  its  appearance,  as  it  stretched  in  one  long  street  along 
the  precipitous  margin  of  a  lake.  During  three  hundred 
years,  his  successors  (named  the  Silvii)  reigned  at  Alba,  the 
lords  of  the  surrounding  country  ;  but  tradition  spake  not  of 
their  deeds.  Procas,  one  of  these  kings,  when  dying,  left  two 
sons,  named  Numitor  and  Amulius.  The  former,  who  was  the 
elder,  being  of  a  meek,  peaceful  temper,  his  ambitious  brother 
wrested  from  him  the  sceptre  of  the  Silvii,  leaving  him  only 
his  paternal  demesnes,  on  which  he  allowed  him  to  live  in 
quiet ;  but  fearing  the  spirit  of  Numitor's  son,  he  caused 
him  to  be  murdered  as  he  was  out  a-hunting ;  and  he  placed 
his  daughter  Silvia,  his  only  remaining  child,  among  the 
Vestal  virgins,  who  were  bound  to  celibacy.  The  race  of 
Aphrodite  and  Anchises  seemed  destined  to  become  extinct, 
for  Amulius  was  childless,  when  a  god  interposed  to  pre- 
serve it  and  give  it  additional  lustre.  One  day  when  Silvia 
was  gone  into  the  sacred  grove  of  Mars  to  draw  water  for 
the  use  of  the  temple,  a  wolf  suddenly  appeared  before  her; 
the  terrified  maiden  fled  for  refuge  into  a  cavern ;  the  god 
descended  and  embraced  her.  When  retiring,  he  assured 
her  that  she  would  be  the  mother  of  an  illustrious  progeny. 
Silvia  told  not  her  secret ;  and  at  the  due  time  the  pains  of 
labor  seized  her  in  the  very  temple  of  Vesta.  The  image 
of  the  virgin  goddess  placed  its  hands  before  its  eyes  to 
avoid  the  unhallowed  sight,  and  the  perpetual  flame  on  the 
altar  drew  back  amidst  the  embers.*  She  brought  forth 
two  male  children,  whom  the  ruthless  tyrant  ordered  to  be 
cast,  with  their  mother,  into  the  River  Tiber.  Silvia  here 
became  the  spouse  of  the  god  of  the  stream,  and  immortal. 
The  care  of  Mars  was  extended  to  his  progeny ;  the  bole  or 


12  HISTORY   OF   HOME. 

ark  in  which  the  babes  were  placed  floated  along  the  riret, 
which  had  overflowed  its  banks,  till  it  reached  the  woody 
hills  on  its  side,*  at  the  foot  of  one  of  which,  the  Palatine, 
and  close  to  the  Ruminal  flg-tree,  it  overturned  on  the  soft 
mud.  A  she-wolf,  the  sacred  beast  of  Mars,  which  came 
to  slake  her  thirst,  heard  the  whimpering  of  the  babes ;  she 
took  and  conveyed  them  to  her  den  on  the  hill,  licked  their 
bodies  with  her  tongue,  and  suckled  them  at  her  dugs. 
Under  her  care  they  throve ;  and  when  they  required  more 
solid  food  it  was  brought  them  by  a  woodpecker,  (picus,) 
an  nninial  sacred,  like  the  wolf,  to  their  sire  ;  and  other  birds 
of  augury  hovered  round  the  cave  to  keep  off*  noxious  in- 
sects. At  length,  this  wonderful  sight  was  beheld  by  Faus- 
tulus,  the  keeper  of  the  royal  flocks  :  he  approached  the  cave; 
the  she-wolf  retired,  her  task  being  done ;  and  he  took 
home  the  babes  and  committed  them  to  the  care  of  his  wife, 
Acca  Larentia,  by  whom  they  were  carefully  reared  along 
with  her  own  twelve  sons  in  their  cottage  on  the  Palatine. 

When  the  two  brothers,  who  were  named  Romulus  and 
Remus,  grew  up,  they  were  distinguished  among  the  shep- 
herd lads  for  their  strength  and  courage,  which  they  dis- 
played against  the  wild  beasts  and  the  robbers,  and  the  neigh- 
boring swains.  Their  chief  disputes  were  with  the  herds- 
men of  Numitor,  who  fed  their  cattle  on  the  adjacent  Aven- 
tine,  and  whom  they  frequently  defeated;  but  at  length 
Reftius  was  made  a  prisoner  by  stratagem,  and  dragged 
away  as  a  robber  to  Alba.  The  king  gave  him  up  for 
punishment  to  Numitor,  who,  struck  with  the  noble  ap- 
pearance of  the  youth,  inquired  of  him  who  and  what  he 
was.  On  hearing  the  story  of  his  infancy,  he  began  to 
suspect  that  he  might  be  his  grandson ;  but  he  confined  his 
thoughts  to  his  own  bosom.  Meantime,  Faustulus  had  re- 
vealed to  Romulus  his  suspicions  of  his  royal  birth,  and  the 
youth  resolved  to  release  his  brother  and  restore  his  grand- 
sire  to  his  rights.  By  his  directions  his  comrades  entered 
Alba  at  diff*erent  parts,  and  there  uniting  under  him,  fell 
on  and  slew  the  tyrant,  and  then  placed  Numitor  on  the 
throne  of  his  ancestors. 

The  two  brothers,  regardless  of  the  succession  to  the 
throne  of  Alba,  resolved  to  found  a  town  for  themselves  on 
the  hills  where  they  had  passed  the  happy  days  of  child- 
hood*    Their  old  rustic  comrades  joined  them  in  their  pro- 

•  Conmi,  Narr.  48. 


BUILDING    OF   ROME.  13 

ject,  and  they  were  preparing  to  build,  when  a  dispute  arose 
between  them,  whether  it  should  be  on  the  Palatine  and 
named  Roma,  or  on  the  Aventine  and  called  Remoria.*  It 
was  agreed  to  learn  the  will  of  heaven  by  augury.  Each  at 
midnight  took  his  station  on  his  favorite  hill,  marked  out 
the  celestial  temple,  and  sat  expecting  the  birds  of  omen. 
Day  came  and  passed  ;  night  followed  ;  toward  dawn,  the 
second  day,  Remus  beheld  six  vultures  flying  from  north  to 
south;  the  tidings  came  to  Romulus  at  sunrise,  and  just 
then  twelve  vultures  flew  past.  A  contest  arose ;  though 
right  was  on  the  side  of  Remus,  Romulus  asserted  that  the 
double  number  announced  the  will  of  the  gods,  and  his 
party  proved  the  stronger. 

The  Palatine  was  therefore  to  be  the  site  of  the  future 
city.  Romulus  yoked  a  bullock  and  a  heifer  to  the  plough, 
whose  share  was  copper,  and  drove  it  round  t^e  hill  to  form 
the  pomoRrium,  or  boundary  line.  On  this  line  they  began 
to  make  a  ditch  and  rampart.  Remus  in  scorn  leaped  over 
the  rising  wall,  and  Romulus  enraged  slew  him  with  a 
blow,  exclaiming,  "  Thus  perish  whoever  will  leap  over  my 
walls ! "  f  Grief,  however,  soon  succeeded,  and  he  was  not 
comforted  till  the  shade  of  Remus  appeared  to  their  foster- 
parents,  and  announced  his  forgiveness  on  condition  of  a 
festival,  to  be  named  from  him,  being  instituted  for  the 
souls  of  the  departed, I  A  throne  was  also  placed  for  him 
by  Romulus  beside  his  own,  with  the  sceptre  and  other 
tokens  of  royalty.^ 

As  a  means  of  augmenting  the  population  of  his  new 
town,  Romulus  readily  admitted  any  one  who  chose  to  re- 
pair to  it ;  he  also  marked  out  a  spot  on  the  side  of  the 
Tarpeian  hill  as  an  asylum  to  receive  insolvent  debtors, 
criminals,  and  runaway  slaves.  The  population  thus  rap- 
idly increased,  but  from  its  nature  it  contained  few  women, 
and  therefore  the  state  was  menaced  with  a  brief  duration. 
To  obviate  this  evil,  Romulus  sent  to  the  neighboring 
towns,  proposing  to  them  treaties  of  amity  and  intermar- 
riage; but  his  overtures  were  every  where  received  with 
aversion  and  contempt.     He  then  had  recourse  to  artifice ; 

*  Another  account  says  at  a  place  four  miles  further  down  the  river. 
Ennius  makes  Romulus  take  his  augury  on  the  Aventine. 

t  Those  who  would  soften  the  legend  said  he  was  slain  by  a  man 
named  Celer. 

t  The  Lemuria,  Ovid,  Fasti,  v.  461—480. 

§  SerVius  on  ^n.  i.  27^. 
2 


14  HISTORY    OF    ROME. 

he  proclaimed  games  to  be  celebrated  at  Rome  on  the  fes- 
tival of  the  Consualia,  to  which  he  invited  all  his  neigh- 
bors. The  Latins  and  Sabines  came  without  suspicion, 
bringing  their  wives  and  daughters;  but  in  the  midst  of 
the  festivities,  the  Roman  youth  rushed  on  them  with  drawn 
swords,  and  carried  off  a  number  of  their  maidens.  The 
parents  fled,  calling  on  the  gods  to  avenge  the  perfidious 
breach  of  faith,  and  the  neighboring  Latin  towns  of  Cae- 
nina,  Crustumerium,  and  Antemnae,  joined  by  Titus  Tatius, 
king  of  the  Sabines,  prepared  to  take  up  arms.  But  the 
Latins,  impatient  of  the  delay  of  the  Sabines,  and  acting 
without  concert  among  themselves,  singly  attacked  and 
were  overcome  by  the  Romans.  At  length,  Tatius  led  his 
troops  against  Rome.  The  Saturnian  or  Tarpeian  hill,  op- 
posite the  town,  was  fortified,  and  had  a  garrison;  but  Tar- 
peia,  the  daughter  of  the  governor,  having  gone  down  to 
draw  water,  met  the  Sabines,  and  dazzled  by  the  gold 
bracelets  which  they  wore,  agreed  to  open  a  gate  for  them 
if  they  would  give  her  what  they  bore  on  their  left  arms. 
She  kept  her  promise  ;  but  the  Sabines  cast  their  shields 
from  their  left  arms  on  her  as  they  entered,  and  the  traitress 
expired  beneath  their  weight.  The  hill  thus  became  the 
possession  of  the  Sabines. 

Next  day  the  armies  encountered  in  the  valley  between 
the  two  hills.  The  advantage  was  on  the  side  of  the  Sa- 
bines, and  the  Romans  were  flying,  when  Romulus  cried 
aloud  to  Jupiter,  vowing  him  a  temple  under  the  name  of 
Stator,  (Stayer,)  if  he  would  stay  their  flight.  The  Romans 
turned ;  victory  was  inclining  to  them,  when  suddenly  the 
Sabine  women  came  forth  with  garments  rent  and  dishev- 
elled locks,  and  rushing  between  the  two  armies,  implored, 
thfir  fathers  and  their  husbands  to  cease  from  the  impious 
conflict.  Both  sides  dropped  their  arms  and  stood  in  silence ; 
the  leaders  then  advanced  to  conference,  a  treaty  of  amity 
and  union  was  made,  and  Romulus  and  Tatius  became  joint 
sovereigns  of  the  united  nation,  the  Romans  taking  the 
name  of  Quirites  from  the  Sabine  town  of  Cures.  As  a 
mark  of  honor  to  the  Sabine  women,  Romulus  named  from 
them  fche  thirty  curies  into  which  he  divided  his  people. 

Some  years  after,  when  Laurentine  ambassadors  came 
to  Rome,  they  were  ill  treated  by  some  of  Tatius'  kinsmen ; 
and  as  he  refused  satisfaction,  he  was  fallen  on  and  slain 
at  a  national  sacrifice  in  Lavinium.  Romulus  henceforth 
reigned  alone;   he  governed  his  people  with  justice  and 


ROMAN    CONSTITUTION.  15 

moderation,  and  carried  on  successful  wars  in  Latium  and 
Etruria.  At  length,  when  he  had  reigned  thirty-seven  years, 
the  term  assigned  by  the  gods  to  his  abode  on  earth  being 
arrived,  as  he  was  one  day  reviewing  his  people  at  the  place 
named  the  Goat's  Marsh,  [Palus  CaprcE,)  a  sudden  storm 
came  on;  the  people  fled  for  shelter;  and,  amid  the  tempest 
of  thunder,  lightning,  wind,  and  rain,  Mars  descended  in 
his  flaming  car,  and  bore  his  son  off"  to  the  abode  of  the 
gods.*  When  the  light  returned,  the  people  vainly  sought 
for  their  monarch;  they  bewailed  him  as  their  father,  as 
him  who  had  brought  them  into  the  realms  of  day ;  f  and 
they  were  not  consoled  till  a  senator,  named  Proculus  Julius, 
came  forwards,  and  averred  that  as  he  was  returning  by 
moonlight  from  Alba  to  Rome,  Romulus  had  appeared  to 
him  arrayed  in  glory,  and  charged  him  to  tell  his  people  to 
cease  to  lament  him,  to  cultivate  warlike  exercises,  and  to 
worship  him  as  a  god  under  the  name  of  Q,uirinus. 

As  the  founder  of  the  state,  Romulus  had  necessarily  been 
its  lawgiver.  The  chief  features  of  his  legislation  were  as 
follows :  — 

He  divided  the  whole  people  into  three  Tribes,  ( Tribus,) 
named  Ramnes,  Titienses,  and  Luceres,  each  of  which  con- 
tained ten  Curies,  {CuricB,)  and  each  cury  consisted  of  a 
decad  of  Houses,  (Gentes.)  The  tribe  was  governed  and 
represented  by  its  Tribune,  ( Tribunus,)  the  cury  by  its  Cu- 
rion,  {Curio,)  the  house  by  its  Decurion,  (Decurio.)  The 
territory  of  the  state,  with  the  exception  of  what  was  set 
apart  for  religion  and  the  public  domain,  was  divided  into 
thirty  equal  portions,  one  for  each  cury.  Romulus  again 
divided  the  whole  people  into  two  orders.  The  first  was 
composed  of  the  persons  most  distinguished  for  merit,  birth, 
and  property ;  these  were  called  Patres,  (Fathers,)  and  tl^ir 
descendants  Patricians,  as  a  mark  of  reverence,  or  as  they 
resembled  fathers  in  their  care.  The  other  order  was  named 
the  Plebes  or  Plebs,  (People  ;)|  they  were  placed  under  the 
care  of  the  patricians,  whence  they  were  also  called  Clients, 
(Clientes,  i.  e.  Hearers,  or  Obeyers.)  §  All  the  offices  of  the 
state  were  in  the  hands  of  the  patricians;  the  plebeians 
served  in  war,  and  paid  taxes  in  return  for  the  protection 

*  Horace,  Carm.  iii.  3.  15.     Ovid,  Fasti,  ii.  496.     Dionys.  ii.  56. 
t  Ennius  in  Cic.  de  Rep.  i.  41. 
X  Plebes  is  probably  akin  to  the  Greek  nXfj^oq. 
§  These  relations,  and  their  true  nature,  will  be  explained  in  Chap- 
ter V. 


16  HISTORY    OF    ROME. 

they  received.  A  hundred  of  the  elders  of  the  patres 
formed  a  Senate,  {SenatuSy)  to  deliberate  with  the  king  in 
affairs  of  state.  Three  hundred  young  men,  selected  from 
the  curies,  and  named  Celeres,  guarded  his  person;  and 
twelve  Lictors  (Lictores)*  or  sergeants, /bearing  axes  in, 
bundles  of  rods,  (fasces,)  attended  to  execute  his  commands. 
Romulus  also  gave  dignity  to  his  royal  authority  by  splendor 
of  attire  and  imperial  ensigns. 

After  the  assumption  of  Romulus,  Rome  remained  an 
entire  year  without  a  king ;  the  senators,  under  the  title  of 
Interreges,  (Beiween-kings,)  governing  in  rotation.  At 
length  the  people  becoming  impatient,  they  proceeded  to 
elect  a  king.  It  was  agreed  that  the  Romans  should  choose 
from  among  the  Sabines;  and  the  choice  fell  on  Numa 
Pompilius  of  Cures,  who  had  married  the  daughter  of  Ta- 
tius,  and  had  been  the  pupil  of  the  Grecian  sage  Pythagoras. 
He  was  brought  to  Rome,  and  as  Romulus  had  learned  the 
will  of  the  gods  by  augury  when  founding  the  city,  this  pious 
prince  would  not  ascend  the  throne  without  obtaining  their 
consent,  in  the  same  manner.  Led  by  the  augur,  he  mounted 
the  Saturnian  hill,  and  sat  on  a  stone  facing  the  south.  The 
augur  sat  on  his  left,  his  head  veiled,  and  holding  the 
lituusf  in  his  right  hand;  then  marking  out  thi  celestial 
temple,  he  transferred  the  lituus  to  his  left  hand,  and  laying 
his  right  on  the  head  of  Numa,  prayed  to  Jupiter  to  send  the 
signs  he  wished  within  the  designated  limits.  The  signs 
appeared,  and  Numa  came  down,  being  declared  king. 

The  new  monarch  set  forthwith  about  regulating  the 
state.  He  divided  among  the  citizens  the  lands  which  Rom- 
ulus had  conquered,  and  founded  the  worship  of  Terminus, 
the  god  of  boundaries.  He  then  proceeded  to  legislate  for 
•reiigion,  in  which  he  acted  under  the  direction  of  the  Ca- 
mena  |  Egeria,  who  espoused  him,  and  led  him  into  the  grove 
which  her  divine  sisters  frequented,  Numa  appointed  the 
Pontiffs  to  preside  over  the  public  religion  ;  the  Augurs,  to 
learn  the  will  of  heaven  ;  the  Flamens,  to  minister  in  the 
temples  of  the  great  gods  of  Rome  ;  the  Vestal  Virgins,  to 
guard  the  sacred  fire ;  and  the  Salii,  to  adore  the  gods  with 
hymns,  to  which  they  danced  in  arms.  He  also  built  the 
temple  of  Janus,  which  was  to  be  open  in  time  of  war. 


*  That  is,  Ligatores,  (Bihderg,)  from  their  office  of  binding  criminals, 
t  A  staff  with  a  crooked  head,  like  a  bishop's  crosier. 
t  The  Camenae  answer  to  the  Grecian  Muses. 


TULLUS    HOSTILIUS.  17 

closed  when  Rome  was  at  peace.  At  a  time  when  the  anger 
of  heaven  was  manifested  by  terrific  lightning,  Numa,  in- 
structed by  the  rural  gods  Picus  and  Faunus,  whom  he  had 
caught  by  pouring  wine  into  the  fount  whence  they  drank, 
caused  by  conjurations  Jupiter  to  descend  on  the  Aventine 
to  tell  him  how  his  lightnings  might  be  averted.  The  god, 
thence  named  Elicius,  also  sent  from  heaven  the  Ancile*  as 
a  pledge  of  empire.  Thirty-nine  years  did  Numa  reign  in 
tranquillity,  and  then  the  favorite  of  the  gods  fell  asleep  in 
death,  full  of  years  and  of  honors. 

After  an  interreign  of  a  short  time,  the  royal  dignity  was 
conferred  on  TuUus  Hostilius,  a  Roman,  and  more  allied  in 
character  to  Romulus  than  to  Numa.  He  sought  and  soon 
found  an  occasion  for  war.  The  Roman  and  the  Alban 
country  folk  had  mutually  plundered  each  other ;  envoys 
were  sent  from  both  towns  to  demand  satisfaction ;  but  the 
Albans,  beguiled  by  the  hospitality  of  the  Roman  king,  re- 
mained idle  at  Rome,  while  the  Romans  had  made  their  de- 
mand, and  been  refused.  As,  by  the  maxims  of  Italian  law, 
the  Romans  were  now  the  injured  party,  war  was  formally 
declared.  Preparations  were  made  on  both  sides,  and  at 
length  the  Alban  army  came  and  encamped  within  five  miles 
of  Rome,  where  the  deep  ditch,  named  the  Cluilian,  (from 
the  name  of  their  King  Cluilius,)  long  informed  posterity  of 
the  site  of  their  camp.  Here  Cluilius  died,  and  Mettius 
Fuffetius  was  chosen  dictator.  Meantime  King  Tullus  had 
entered  the  Alban  territory,  and  Mettius  found  it  necessary 
to  quit  his  entrenched  camp,  and  advance  to  engage  him. 
The  two  armies  met,  and  were  drawn  out  in  array  of  battle, 
when  the  Alban  chief  demanded  a  conference.  The  leaders 
on  both  sides  advanced  to  the  middle,  and  Mettius  then 
showing  how  the  Tuscans,  their  common  enemies,  woul|| 
take  advantage  of  their  mutual  losses,  and  destroy  them 
both,  proposed  to  decide  the  national  quarrel  by  a  combat 
of  champions  to  be  chosen  on  each  side.  The  Roman 
monarch  assented,  though  he  would  have  preferred  the 
shock  of  two  numerous  hosts. 

There  were  in  each  army  three  twin-brothers,  whose 
mothers  were  sisters ;  the  Romans  were  named  the  Hoiatii, 
the  Albans  theCuriatii.t     To  these  the  fates  of  their  respec^ 

*  The  sacred  shield  borne  by  the  Salii ;  lest  it  should  be  stolen, 
Numa  had  several  others  made  like  it.     See  Ovid,  Fasti,  iii.  259 — 392. 

t  According  to  some,  the  Horatii  were  the  Albans.  The  Horatian 
gens  at  Rome  belonged  to  the  Luceres. 

2*  c 


18  HISTORY    OF   ROME. 

live  countries  were  committed.  The  treaty  was  made  ip 
due  form,  and  that  state,  whose  champions  were  vanquished, 
was  to  submit  to  the  rule  of  the  other.  The  brothers  ad- 
vanced on  each  side ;  both  armies  sat  down  in  their  ranks 
to  view  the  important  combat;  the  signal  was  given,  the 
champions  drew  their  swords,  and  engaged  hand  to  hand  ; 
dread  and  expectation  bound  the  spectators  in  silence.  At 
length,  two  of  the  Romans  were  seen  to  fall  dead,  the  third 
was  unhurt ;  the  Albans  were  all  wounded.  A  shout  of 
triumph  rose  in  the  Alban  army ;  hope  fled  from  the  Ro- 
mans. The  surviving  Horatius,  unable  to  cope  with  his 
three  adversaries,  though  enfeebled,  feigned  a  flight.  They 
pursued,  but,  owing  to  their  weakness,  at  different  intervals. 
Soon  he  turned,  and  slew  the  first.  The  Albans  vainly  called 
to  his  brothers  to  aid  ;  they  fell  each  in  turn  by  the  sword 
of  the  Roman,  and  Alba  submitted  to  Rome. 

When  the  dead  on  both  sides  had  been  buried,  the  two 
armies  separated.  Horatius,  bearing  the  spoils  of  the  slain 
Curiatii,  walked  at  the  head  of  the  Romans.  At  the  Ca- 
pene  gate,  when  about  to  enter  the  city,  he  was  met  by 
his  sister,  who  had  been  betrothed  to  one  of  the  Curiatii, 
and  recognizing  her  lover's  surcoat,  which  she  had  woven 
with  her  own  hands,  she  let  fall  her  hair,  and  bewailed  his 
fate.  The  victor,  enraged,  drew  his  sword  and  struck  it 
into  her  bosom,  crying,  "  Such  be  the  fate  of  her  who  be- 
wails an  enemy  of  Rome  !  "  Horror  seized  on  all  at  the  atro- 
cious deed:  the  murderer  was  taken  for  trial  before  the 
king ;  but  Tullus  shrank  from  the  ofiice,  and  the  aff*air  was 
committed  to  the  ordinary  judges  in  such  cases,  (the  Duum- 
virs,) by  whom  he  was  sentenced  to  be  scourged,  and  to 
be  hung  with  a  rope  from  the  fatal  tree  with  his  head  cov- 
fred.  The  lictor  approached,  and  was  placing  the  halter 
on  him,  when,  at  the  suggestion  of  the  king,  he  appealed 
to  the  people.  His  father  pleaded  for  him  with  tears ;  the 
people  were  moved,  and  let  him  go  free.  Purgative  sacri- 
fices were  performed,  and  he  was  made  to  walk  with  covered 
head  under  a  beam  placed  across  the  way. 

The  treaty,  thus  sealed  with  kindred  blood,  did  not  remain 
long  unbroken.  The  Albans,  weary  of  subjection,  sent  se- 
cretly to  excite  the  people  of  Fidense  to  war  against  Rome, 
promising  to  go  over  to  them  in  the  battle.  The  Fide- 
nates,  joined  by  their  allies,  the  Veientines  of  Etruria,  de- 
clared war,  and  Tullus,  having  summoned  an  Alban  army 
to  his  standard,  crossed  the  Anio,  and  took  his  post  at  its 


confluence  with  the  Tiber.  The  Romans  were  opposed  to 
the  Veientines,  the  Albans  to  the  Fidenates.  Mettius,  cow- 
ardly as  treacherous,  would  neither  stay  nor  go  over  to  the 
enemy.  He  gradually  drew  oif  to  the  hills,  and  there  dis- 
posed his  troops.  The  Romans,  finding  their  flank  thus  left 
exposed,  sent  to  inform  the  king,  but  Tullus  telling  them 
that  the  Albans  were  acting  by  his  order,  desired  them  to 
fall  on.  The  Fidenates,  hearing  these  orders,  and  deeming 
that  Mettius  was  a  traitor  to  them,  turned  and  fled.  Tullus 
then  brought  all  his  forces  against  the  Etrurians,  and  drove 
them  with  great  slaughter  into  the  river.  The  Albans 
came  down,  and  their  general  congratulated  the  king  on 
his  victory.  Tullds  received  him  kindly,  and  directed  that 
the  two  armies  should  encamp  together,  and  a  lustral  sacri- 
fice be  prepared  for  the  morrow.  Next  morning  he  called 
a  general  assembly  ;  the  Albans,  with  affected  zeal,  came 
fir&t,  and  stood  unarmed  around  the  king,  by  whose  direc- 
tions they  were  encompassed  by  the  Romans  in  arms.  Tul- 
lus then  spoke,  reproaching  Mettius  with  his  treachery,  and 
declaring  his  intention  of  destroying  Alba,  and  removing 
the  inhabitants  to  Rome.  Resistance  was  hopeless ;  Met- 
tius was  seized,  and  to  suit  his  punishment  to  his  crime, 
two  chariots  were  brought,  to  which  his  limbs  were  tied, 
and  one  driven  toward  Rome,  the  other  toward  Fidenae, 
and  the  traitor's  body  thus  torn  asunder.  Meantime  the 
horsemen  had  been  sent  to  Alba  to  remove  the  people  to 
Rome ;  the  infantry  followed,  in  order  to  demolish  the  town. 
The  people,  yielding  to  necessity,  quitted  With  tears  the 
homes  of  their  infancy  and  the  tombs  of  their  fathers ;  all 
the  buildings,  both  public  and  private,  were  destroyed  ;  the 
temples  of  the  gods  alone  were  left  standing.  At  Rome 
the  Albans  were  favorably  received,  and  their  nobles  ad- 
mitted among  the  patricians.  The  Cfelian  hill  was  added 
to  the  city  for  their  abode,  and  the  king  himself  dwelt  on 
it  among  them. 

The  warlike  king  next  engaged  in  hostilities  with  the 
Sabines,  on  the  pretext  of  their  having  seized  some  Rorrtan 
traders  at  the  fair  held  at  the  temple  of  Feronia.  The  Sa- 
bines hired  mercenary  troops  in  Etruria,  bttt  victory  was  on 
the  side  of  Rome  in  a  battle  fought  at  the  Evil  Wood,  {Silva 
Malitiosa.)  Tullus  was  now  at  peace  with  mankind,  but  a 
shower  of  stones  on  the  Alban  Mount  announced  the  dis- 
pleasure of  heaven.  At  the  mandate  of  a  celestial  voice 
heard  on  the  mount,  a  nine-day  festival  w^ifrttitut€id|  and 


90  HISTORY   OF    ROME. 

,#  the  prodigy  ceased ;  but  soon  after  a  pestilence  came  on, 
and  Tullus,  broken  in  mind  and  body,  gave  himself  up  to 
superstition.     Having  read  in  the  books  of  Numa  of  the 

.  sacrifices  to  Jupiter  Elicius,  he  resolved  to  perform  them  ; 
but  erring  in  the  rites,  he  offended  the  god,  and  the  lights 
nings  descended  and  destroyed  himself  and  his  house.  Tul- 
lus had  reigned  thirty-tvi^o  years. 

The  next  king,  Ancus  Marcius,  was  of  the  Sabine  line, 
being  the  son  of  Numa's  daughter.  His  character  was  a 
mean  between  those  of  his  grandsire  and  Romulus.  Like  the 
former,  he  applied  himself  to  the  revival  of  religion ;  and  he 
had  the  ceremonial  law  transcribed  and  hung  up  in  public. 
But  the  Latins,  despising  his  pacific  occupations,  soon  pro- 
voked him  to  war,  where  he  showed  a  spirit  not  unworthy 
of  the  founder  of  Rome.  He  took  the  towns  of  Politorium, 
Tellena,  and  Ficana,  and  having  given  the  Latin  army  a 
total  defeat  under  the  walls  of  MeduUia,  he  removed  the 
people  of  this  and  the  other  towns  to  Rome,  where  he  as- 
signed them  the  Aventine  for  their  abode. 

Ancus  also  won  from  the  Veientines  some  of  the  land 
beyond  the  Tiber,  where  he  fortified  the  Janiculan  hill,  and 
united  it  to  the  city  by  a  wooden  bridge,  (Pons  Suhlicius.) 
To  secure  Rome  on  the  land  side  he  dug  a  deep  ditch 
(Fossa  Quiritium)  before  the  open  space  between  the 
Caelian  and  Palatine  hills.  He  extended  his  dominion  on 
both  sides  of  the  river  to  the  sea,  where  he  bijilt  the  port 
of  Ostia  at  the  mouth  of  the  Tiber.  After  a  useful  and  a 
prosperous  reign  of  twenty-four  years,  King  Ancus  died  in 
peace. 


CHAPTER  HI 

L   TARQUINIUS  PRISCUS. SERVIUS  TULLIUS. L.  TARQUINIUS 

SUPERBUS. TALE  OF  LUCRETIA. ABOLITION  OF   ROYAL- 
TY.  CONSPIRACY  AT    ROME. DEATH  OF   BRUTUS. WAR 

WITH  PORSENNA. BATTLE  OF  THE   REGILLUS. 

Hitherto  the  kings  had  been  Romans  and  Sabines  alter- 
nately ;  the  sceptre  now  passes  into  the  hands  of  a  stranger. 
Whea  Cypselus  overthrew  the  oligarchy  of  the  Bacchiads 


L.   TARQUINIUS   PRISCUS. 

at  Corinth,*  a  member  of  this  family,  named  Demaratus, 
resolved  to  emigrate.  He  fixed  on  Tarquinii,  in  Etruria,  for 
his  abode,  as,  being  an  extensive  merchant,  he  had  formed 
many  connections  in  that  city  ;  and  he  came  thither  accom- 
panied by  the  sculptors,  Euchir,  (Good-hand,)  and  Eugram- 
mus,  (Good-drawer,)  and  the  painter  Cleophantus,  (Deed- 
displayer,)i  whose  arts  and  that  of  writing  he  communicated 
to  the  Etruscans.  He  married  a  woman  of  the  country,  who 
bore  him  two  sons,  named  Aruns  and  Lucuino.  The  former 
died  a  little  before  him,  leaving  his  wife  pregnant;  but 
Demaratus,  unaware  of  this  fact,  bequeathed  the  whole  of  his 
wealth  to  Lucumo,  and  the  new-born  babe,  who  was  there- 
fore named  Egerius,  (Lacker,)  \yas  left  entirely  dependent 
on  his  uncle. 

Lucumo  espoused  an  Etruscan  lady  named  Tanaquil,  and 
finding,  on  account  of  his  foreign  origin,  all  the  avenues  to 
honor  and  power  closed  against  him,  he  listened  to  the 
suggestions  of  his  wife,  and  resolved  to  emigrate  to  Rome, 
where  there  was  no  jealous  aristocratic  caste  to  contend  with. 
He  therefore  quitted  Tarquinii,  and  set  out  for  that  city. 
As  he  and  Tanaquil  were  sitting  in  their  chariot,  taking 
their  first  view  of  Rome  from  the  top  of  the  Janiculan,  an 
eagle  came  flying,  and  gently  descending  took  off  his  bonnet, 
and  with  a  loud  noise  bore  it  into  the  air;  then  returning 
placed  it  again  on  his  head.  Tanaquil,  as  a  Tuscan  skilled 
in  augury,  joyfully  received  the  omen,  and  congratulated 
her  husband  on  the  fortune  it  portended.  Elate-  with  hope, 
they  crossed  the  Sublician  bridge  and  entered  Rome,  where 
Lucumo  assumed  the  name  of  Lucius  Tarquinius  Priscus, 
and,  by  his  polished  manners  and  his  liberality,  soon  won 
the  affections  of  the  people.  He  became,  ere  long,  known 
to  the  king,  Ancus,  who  employed  him  in  both  public  and 
private  affairs  of  importance,  and  when  dying  appointed  him 
guardian  to  his  sons. 

But  Tarquinius  now  deemed  himself  sufficiently  strong 
in  the  favor  of  the  people  to  aspire  to  the  vacant  throne. 
Having  sent  the  young  Marcii  out  a-hunting,  so  that  they 
should  be  away  at  the  time  of  the  election,  he  offered  him- 
self as  a  candidate ;  the  people  unanimously  chose  him  king, 
and  the  senate  confirmed  their  choice.  To  gratify  his  friends, 
he  forthwith  added  one  hundred  members  to  the  senate,  and 
then  to  augment  his  fame  engaged  in  war  with  the  Latins, 

•  See  History  of  Greece,  p.  68.  t  Pliny,  xxxv.  5. 


m 


dd  HISTORY   01?   ROME. 

from  whom  he  took  the  town  of  Apiolae;  and  with  the 
plunder,  whose  amount  exceeded  what  might  have  been 
expected,  he  gave  the  people  a  spectacle  of  horse-racing  and 
boxing  superior  to  any  they  had  yet  seen.  A  war  with  the 
Sabines  soon  followed,  and,  before  the  Romans  were  aware 
of  it,  the  Sabine  army  had  crossed  the  Anio.  The  battle 
that  ensued  was  bloody,  bu|||indecisive ;  and  Tarquinius, 
finding  that  his  deficiency  in  cavalry  had  alone  prevented 
the  victory,  prepared  to  add  three  new  tribes,  to  be  named 
from  himself  and  his  friends,  to  the  tribes  or  equestrian  cen- 
turies of  Romulus.  But  the  augur  Attus  Navius  forbade  to 
change  without  auspices  what  had  been  instituted  with  thejn. 
The  king,  annoyed,  to  put  him  to  shame  desired  him  tO 
augur,  if  what  he  was  then  thinking  on  could  be  done. 
Attus,  having  observed  the  heavens,  replied  in  the  affirmative. 
"  Then,"  cried  the  king,  triumphantly,  "  I  was  thinking  that 
you  should  out  a  whetstone  through  with  a  razor."  Attus 
took  the  razor  and  stone,  and  cut  it  through  ;  the  king  gave 
up  his  project,  but  he  doubled  the  amount  of  the  old  centi>- 
ries  without  interfering  with  the  original  names. 

The  Sabines  meantime  remaining  on  the  hither  side  of  the 
Anid,  Tarquinius  had  a  large  heap  of  timber  which  lay  on 
the  banks  of  the  stream  set  fire  to  and  cast  into  it,  and  it 
floated  along  and  burned  the  wooden  bridge  behind  them ; 
he  then  attacked  and  routed  them  with  great  slaughter, 
and  their  arms  being  carried  along  the  stream  into  the  Ti- 
ber gave  the  first  tidings  of  the  victory  at  Rome.  Tar- 
quinius passed  the  Anio  and  received  the  submission  of  the 
town  of  Coll  atia,  over  which  he  set  his  nephew  Egerius. 
He  afterwards  made  war  on  the  Latins,  and  reduced  several 
of  their  towns.  We  are  also  told  that  all  Etruria  was  forced 
to  submit  to  his  supremacy. 

Tarquinius,  at  peace  and  abounding  in  wealth,  now  de- 
voted his  thoughts  to  the  improvement  of  the  city.  As  the 
valleys  between  the  hills  were  mostly  under  water  from  the 
overflowing  of  the  Tiber,  he  embanked  that  river,  and  built 
huge  sewers  to  drain  the  swamps  and  pools  it  had  formed. 
The  ground  thus  gained  between  the  Tarpeian  and  the 
Palatine  hills  he  laid  out  as  a  place  for  markets  and  the 
meetings  of  the  people;  the  space  between  the  Palatine  and 
the  Aventine  was  made  a  race-course,  and  named  the  Circus 
Maximus.  Tarquinius  also  commenced  building  a  wall  of 
hewn  stone  around  the  city,  and  he  levelled  and  enlarged 
by  extensive  substructions  the^  area  of  one  of  the  00  mm  its 


SERVIUS   TULLIUS.  23 

of  the  Saturnian  hill  for  a  temple  which  he  had  vowed  to 
Jupit^. 

The  king  had  reigned  thirty-eight  years  in  glory,  when 
his  life  was  terminated  by  assassins  hired  by  the  sons  of  his 
predecessor.  The  occasion  was  as  follows.  When  the  Latin 
town  of  Corniculum  was  taken,  one  of  the  captives,  named 
Ocrisia,  was  placed  in  the  service  of  the  queen.  As  she  was 
one  day,  according  to  usage,  placing  cakes  on  the  hearth 
to  the  household  gods,  an  apparition  of  the  fire-god  ap- 
peared over  the  fire.  She  told  the  king  and  queen,  and  Tan- 
aquil  had  her  instantly  arrayed  as  a  bride  and  shut  up  alone 
in  the  apartment.  She  became  pregnant  by  the  god,  and 
in  due  season  brought  forth  a  son,  who  was  named  Servius 
Tullius.  One  time,  the  child  fell  asleep  during  the  heat  of 
the  day  in  the  porch  of  the  palace,  and  suddenly,  to  the  sur- 
prise of  the  beholders,  his  head  was  seen  enveloped  in  flames, 
which  played  innocuously,  and  departed  when  he  awoke. 
Tanaquil,  who  saw  in  this  the  favor  of  his  divine  sire,  had 
him  brought  up  with  the  greatest  care.  When  he  attained 
to  manlwod,  he  displayed  the  utmost  valor  in  the  field ; 
the  king  bestowed  on  him  the  hand  of  his  daughter,  and 
intrusted  him  with  ihe  exercise  of  the  royal  authority,  and 
it  was  expected  that  he  would  appoint  him  his  successor. 
The  sons  of  Ancus  had  hitherto  borne  patiently  their  exclu- 
sion from  the  throne,  expecting  to  obtain  it  on  the  death  of 
Tarquinius,  who  was  now  eighty  years  old;  seeing,  how- 
ever, the  favor  shown  to  Servius,  they  resolved  to  wait  no 
longer,  but  to  kill  the  king  and  seize  the  throne.  They 
therefore  engaged  two  ferocious  peasants  to  accomplish  the 
deed,  and  these  ruffians  proceeding  to  the  palace  pretended 
to  quarrel ;  the  noise  they  made  attracted  the  attention  of 
the  royal  servants,  and  as  they  mutually  appealed  to  the 
king  for  justice,  they  were  led  before  him.  Here,  as  Tar- 
quinius was  listening  to  the  one,  the  other  gave  him  a  deadly 
wound  with  an  axe  on  the  head.  The  murderers  fled,  but 
were  pursued  and  taken.  The  dying  monarch  was  brought 
into  the  palace,  which  Tanaquil  ordered  to  be  shut ;  and  then 
telling  Servius  that  now  was  his  time  to  secure  the  succes- 
sion, went  up  to  a  window,  whence  she  addressed  the  people, 
telling  them  that  the  king's  wound  was  not  fatal,  that  he 
would  soon  recover,  and  that  meantime  Servius  was  to  ex- 
ercise the  functions  of  royalty.  The  gate  was  then  opened, 
and  Servius  issued  forth  with  the  royal  insignia.  He  took 
his  seat,  and  administered  justice,  in  some  cases  at  once,  in 


S4  HISTORY    OF    ROME. 

Others  he  feigned  that  he  would  consult  the  king.^^fter 
sotne  days  the  death  of  Tarquinius  was  made  known,  and 
without  an  interreign  the  royal  dignity  was  conferred  on 
Servius.  The  Marcii,  having  gained  nothing  but  infamy 
by  their  crime,  retired  in  despair  to  the  town  of  Suessa 
Pometia. 

The  reign  of  Servius  was,  like  that  of  Nuraa,  one  of  peace, 
and  only  distinguished  by  internal  legislation.  Like  Numa, 
too,  he  was  favored  with  the  love  of  a  deity.  The  goddess 
Fortuna  loved  him  and  used  to  visit  him  in  secret;  and 
when,  one  time  at  a  later  period,  the  temple  which  he  had 
raised  to  her  was  burnt,  the  flames,  mindful  of  his  origin, 
spared  the  wooden  statue  of  the  king  which  stood  in  it. 

Servius,  the  poor  man's  friend,  paid  out  of  his  royal  treas- 
ure the  debts  of  such  as  were  reduced  to  poverty ;  he  re- 
deemed those  whose  labor  was  pledged  for  debt,  and  he 
assigned  the  people  portions  out  of  the  conquered  lands. 
He  also  divided  all  the  people  into  classes,  regulated  by 
property,  so  that  each  person  should  contribute  to  the  sup- 
port and  defence  of  the  state  in  proportion  to  the  stake  he 
had  in  it.*  This  able  prince,  moreover,  brought  about  a 
federal  union  with  the  thirty  Latin  tovwis  in  which  the  su- 
premacy was  accorded  to  Rome;  and,  as  was  usual  in  such 
cases,  a  common  temple  was  built  to  Diana  (the  moon-god- 
dess) on  the  Aventine.  The  Sabines  also  joined  in  the 
worship  at  this  temple.  Among  the  cattle  of  a  Sabine 
husbandman  was  an  ox  of  prodigious  size,  and  the  sooth- 
sayers declared  that  the  supreme  power  would  be  with  that 
people,  by  one  of  whom  this  ox  was  sacrificed  to  Diana  of 
the  Aventine.  The  Sabine  drove  his  beast  to  the  temple 
on  a  proper  day,  and  was  preparing  to  sacrifice,  when  the 
Roman  priest,  who  had  heard  the  response,  cried  out,  "  What, 
with  unwashed  hands  !  The  Tiber  runs  down  below  there." 
The  Sabine,  anxious  to  perform  the  sacrifice  duly,  went  down 
to  the  river,  and  the  crafty  Roman  offered  up  his  beast  while 
he  was  away.  The  huge  horns  were  nailed  up  in  the  ves- 
tibule, where  they  remained  the  wonder  of  succeeding  ages. 

Warned  by  the  fate  of  his  predecessor,  Servius  endeavr 
ored  to  disarm  the  resentment  of  those  who  might  fancy 
they  had  a  claim  to  the  throne.  The  late  monarch  had  left 
two  sons,t  Lucius  and  Aruns,  and  Servius  gave  these  youths 

*  This  constitution  will  be  developed  in  Chapter.  V. 
t  Those  who  saw  the  difficulty  in  the  poetic  narrative  said  grand 
song. 


SERVIUS    TULLIUS.  25 

his  two  daughters  in  marriage.  But  the  youths  were  differ- 
ent in  temper,  one  being  mild  and  gentle,  the  other  proud 
and  violent ;  the  king's  daughters  likewise  were  of  opposite 
dispositions,  and  chance  or  the  king's  will  had  joined  those 
whose  tempers  differed.  The  haughty  Tullia  soon  despised 
her' gentle  mate  Aruns,  and  placed  her  love  on  the  haughty 
Lucius.  An  adulterous  intercourse  succeeded,  which  was 
speedily  followed  by  the  sudden  deaths  of  those  who  stood 
in  the  way  of  their  legal  union,  to  which  a  reluctant  con- 
sent was  extorted  from  the  king,  now  far  advanced  in  years. 

Urged  on  by  his  unprincipled  wife,  Tarquinius  now  openly 
aspire^  to  the  kingdom.  A  large  portion  of  the  Patricians, 
offended  at  the  wise  and  beneficent  laws  of  the  king,  readily 
entered  into  a  conspiracy  against  him,  and  Tarquinius,  in 
reliance  on  their  support,  at  length  ventured  one  day  to 
enter  the  market  surrounded  by  armed  men,  and  placing 
himself  on  the  royal  seat  in  the  senate-house,  ordered  the 
herald  to  call  the  senate  to  King  Tarquinius.  The  senators 
came,  some  through  fear,  others  already  prepared  for  the 
event ;  and  he  addressed  them,  setting  forth  his  claims  to  the 
throne.  Just  then  Servius  arrived,  and  demanded  why  he 
had  dared  to  take  his  seat ;  the  rebel  made  an  insolent  re- 
ply ;  a  shout  was  set  up  by  their  respective  partisans.  Tar- 
quinius, seeing  that  he  must  now  dare  the  utmost  or  fail, 
seized  the  aged  king  by  the  waist  and  flupg  him  down  the 
stone  steps.  He  then  returned  into  the  senate-house;  the 
king,  whose  adherents  had  fled,  rose  sorely  bruised,  and 
slowly  moved  toward  home  ;  but  at  the  foot  of  the  Esquiline 
(on  which  he  resided)  he  was  overtaken  and  slain  by  those 
sent  after  him  by  the  usurper. 

Tullia,  regardless  of  female  decorum,  drove  in  her  chariot 
to  the  senate-house,  called  her  husband  out,  and  was  the 
first  to  salute  him  king.  He  prayed  her  to  return  home ;  as 
she  drove,  she  came  to  where  the  corpse  of  her  father  was 
lying;  the  mules  started,  the  driver  paused  in  horror  and 
looked  his  mistress  in  the  face.  "  Why  do  you  stop?  "  cried 
she.  "  See  you  not  the  body  of  your  father  ?  "  replied  the 
man;  she  flung  the  footstool  at  his  head,  he  lashed  on  the 
mules,  and  the  wheels  passed  over  the  monarch's  body, 
whose  blood  spirted  over  the  garments  of  the  parricide. 
Ever  after  the  street  was  named  the  Wicked,  ( Vicus  Scele- 
ratus.)  When,  some  time  afterwards,  Tullia  ventured  to 
enter  the  temple  of  Fortune,  the  statue  of  her  father  was 
3  D 


26  HISTORY    OF    ROME. 

seen  to  place  its  hands  before  its  eyes,  and  cry,  "  Hide  my 
face  !  that  I  may  not  behold  my  impious  daughter."  * 

Thus,  after  a  reign  of  forty-four  years,  perished  this  best 
of  kings,  and  with  him  all  just  and  moderate  government  at 
Rome, 

L.  Tarquinius,  named  the  Proud,  (Superbus,)  resolved  to 
rule  by  terror  the  empire  he  had  acquired  by  crime.  He 
deprived  the  people  of  all  the  privileges  conferred  on  them 
by  Servius ;  he  put  to  death  or  banished  such  of  the  sena- 
tors as  he  feared  or  disliked,  and  like  the  Grfeek  tyrantSy 
surrounded  himself  with  a  body-guard  of  mercenaries.  He 
rarely  called  together  the  diminished  senate.  To  strengthen 
himself  by  external  alliances,  he  gave  one  of  his  daughters 
in  marriage  to  Octavius  Mamilius  of  Tusculura,  the  leading 
man  among  the  Latins. 

As  the  head  of  the  Latin  nation,  Tarquinius  summoned 
a  congress  to  the  grove  of  Ferentina  (the  usual  place  of 
meeting)  to  deliberate  on  matters  of  common  weal.  The 
deputies  met  at  dawn,  and  waited  all  the  day  in  vain  for 
the  appearance  of  the  Roman  monarch.  Turnus  Herdonius 
of  Aricia,  one  of  them,  then  loudly  inveighed  against  the  in- 
solence and  pride  which  this  conduct  denoted,  and  advised 
them  to  separate  and  return  to  their  homes.  In  the  evening, 
however,  Tarquinius  arrived,  and  excused  his  delay  under 
the  pretext  of  his  having  had  to  make  up  a  quarrel  between 
a  father  and  a  son.  Turnus  treated  this  as  a  flimsy  excuse, 
and  the  council  was  put  off  till  the  next  day.  During  the 
night  Tarquinius,  who  was  resolved  to  destroy  Turnus,  had 
his  slave  bribed  to  convey  a  great  number  of  swords  secretly 
into  his  lodging,  and  a  little  before  day  he  summoned  a 
meeting  of  the  deputies.  His  delay  the  preceding  day  he 
declared  had  been  most  providential,  for  he  had  since  dis- 
covered that  Turnus  had  planned  to  kill  both  him  and  them, 
and  thus  become  the  ruler  of  Latium.  He  had,  he  under- 
stood, collected  arms  for  that  purpose,  and  he  now  prayed 
them  to  come  and  try  if  the  intelligence  was  true.  Theiir 
knowledge  of  Turnus'  character  induced  them  to  give  credit 
to  the  charge  ;  they  awoke  him  from  his  sleep,  the  house  was 
searched,  thfe  arms  were  found,  Turnus  was  laid  in  chains 
and  brought  before  the  council ;  the  swords  were  produced, 
he  was  condemned  untried,  taken  to  the  fount  of  Ferentina, 
cast  in,  a  hurdle  placed  over  him  laden  with  stones,  and 

*  Ovid,  Fasti,  vi.  613. 


L.    TAR^UINIUS    SUPERBUS.  27 

thus  drowned.  The  league  with  Latium  was  then  solemnly 
renewed,  and  Tarquinius  declared  head  of  the  confederacy, 
which  was  also  joined  by,  the  Hernicans ;  and  a  common' 
festival,  to  be  annually  held  at  the  temple  of  Jupiter  Latiaris 
on  the  Alban  Mount,  was  instituted. 

The  arms  of  the  confederates  were  soon  turned  against 
their  neighbors,  and  Suessa  Pometia,  a  flourishing  town 
of  the  Volscians,  was  the  first  object  of  attack.  The  town 
was  taken  by  storm,  the  inhabitants  sold,  the  tithe  of  the 
booty  reserved  for  building  the  temple  of  Jupiter,  and  the 
remainder  distributed  among  the  soldiers. 

The  city  of  Gabii,  whi-ch  lay  about  twelve  miles  from 
Rome,  relying  on  the  strength  of  its  walls,  would  not  be 
included  in  the  treaty  of  federation  with  Rome.  It  gave 
an  asylum  to  the  Roman  exiles,  and  for  some  years  the 
Romans  and  Gabines  carried  on  a  harassing  warfare,  wasting 
and  plundering  each  other's  lands.  At  length,  treachery 
effected  what  force  could  not  achieve.  Sextus,  the  youngest 
son  of  the  tyrant,  in  concert  with  his  father,  fled  to  Gabii  to 
seek  a  refuge,  as  he  alleged,  from  his  father's  cruelty,  which 
menaced  his  life.  The  simple  Gabines  believed  the  lying 
tale ;  they  pitied  and  received  him.  Soon  they  admitted 
him  to  their  councils  ;  at  his  impulsion  they  renewed  the 
war,  which  had  languished  ;  Sextus  got  a  command  ;  fortune 
every  where  favored  him  ;  he  was  at  length  made  general ; 
the  soldiers  adored  the  chief  who  always  led  them  to  victory, 
and  bis  authority  in  Gabii  finally  equalled  that  of  Tarquinius 
at  Rome.  He  now  sent  a  trusty  messenger  to  his  father  to 
ask  him  how  he  should  act.  Tarquinius  received  the  mes- 
senger in  his  garden,  and  as  he  walked  up  and  down  he 
struck  off  the  heads  of  the  poppies  with  his  staff,  but  made 
no  reply.  The  messenger  returned  and  told  of  the  strange 
behavior  of  the  king,  but  Sextus  knew  what  it  meant ;  he 
accused  some  of  the  leading  men  to  the  people,  others  he 
caused  to  be  assassinated,  others  he  drove  into  exile;  in 
fine,  he  deprived  the  Gabines  of  all  their  men  of  talent  and 
wealth,  and  then  delivered  up  the  city,  void  of  defence,  to 
his  father. 

Tarquinius  now  turned  all  his  thoughts  to  the  completion 
of  the  temple  on  the  Saturnian  hill.  As,  since  the  time  of 
Tatius,  it  had  been  covered  with  the  altars  and  chapels  of 
various  deities,  it  was  requisite  to  obtain  the  consent  of  .each 
for  their  removal  by  augury.  All,  save  Terminus  and  Youth, 
readily  gave  it,  whence  it  was  inferred  that  Rome  would 


28  HISTORY   OF    ROME. 

flourish  in  perpetual  youth,  and  her  boundaries  never  re- 
cede. The  fresh-bleeding  head  (caput)  of  a  man  was  alpo 
found  as  they  were  digging  the  foundation  ;  whence  the  tem- 
ple, and  from  it  the  hill,  was  named  the  Capitolium,*  and 
it  was  announced  that  Rome  would  be  the  head  of  Italy. 
Artists  came  from  Etruria,  task-work  was  imposed  on  the 
people,  and  at  length  the  united  fanes  of  Jupiter,  Juno  and 
Minerva,  crowned  the  summit  of  the  Capitolium. 

One  day  a  strange  woman  appeared  before  the  king  with 
nine  books,  which  she  offered  to  sell  for  300  pieces  of  gold. 
Tarquinius  declined  the  purchase ;  she  went  away,  burned 
three  of  them,  came  back  atid  demanded  the  same  price  for 
the  remainder.  She  was  laughed  at ;  she  burned  three  more, 
and  still  her  price  was  the  same.  The  king,  suspecting  some 
mystery,  consulted  the  augurs,  who  blamed  him  for  not 
having  purchased  the  whole,  and  advised  him  to  hesitate  no 
longer.  He  paid  the  money,  the  woman  delivered  the 
books  and  vanished.  These  books,  which  contained  Sib- 
ylline oracles,t  were  placed  in  a  stone  chest  in  an  under- 
ground cell  in  the  temple  of  the  Capitoline  Jupiter,  under 
the  custody  of  two  men  of  noble  birth,  and  were  directed  to 
be  consulted  in  emergencies  of  the  state. 

But  prodigies  sent  by  Heaven  soon  came  to  disturb  the 
tyrant's  repose.  While  a  sacrifice  was  being  offered  one 
day  in  the  palace,  a  serpent  came  out  of  the  altar,  put  out 
the  fire  and  seized  the  flesh  that  was  on  it.J  Tarquinius, 
appalled  at  such  an  event,  sent  his  two  eldest  sons,  Titus 
and  A  runs,  to  Gfreece  to  consult  the  Delphic  oracle,  then  sti 
renowned.  The  royal  youths  were  accompanied  by  their 
cousin  L.  Junius,  surnamed  Brutus,  (Fool;)  for  when  the 
tyrant  put  the  elder  brother  of  the  Junii  to  death  for  his 
wealth,  Lucius,  to  save  his  life,  had  counterfeited  folly  ;  eat- 
ing, in  proof  of  it,  wild  figs  and  honey.§ 

The  Pythia,  on  hearing  the  prodigy,  replied  that  the 
king  would  fail  when  a  dog  spake  with  a  human  voice. I| 

*  The  Saturnian  or  Tarpeian  hill  had,  on  the  end  furthest  from  the 
river,  two  summits  separated  by  a  hollow.  The  one  was  the  Arx  or 
citadel ;  the  other,  being  enlarged  by  substructions  or  walls  built  round 
it  and  filled  up  within,  so  as  to  give  an  area  of  800  feet  in  compass, 
was  the  site  of  the  temple. 

t  That  is,  of  the  prophetic  women,  named  Sibyls  by  the  Greeks. 
The  Sibylline  books  of  the  Romans  were  in  Greek. 

X  Ov.  Fasti,  ii.  711. 

6  Macrobius,  Sat.  ii.  16. 

il  Zonaxaa,  ii.  11. 


TALE    OF    LUCRETIA.  29 

The  Tarquinii  then  asked  which  of  them  should  reign  at 
Rome.  "  He  who  first  kisses  his  mother,"  was  the  response. 
They  agreed  to  keep  this  a  secret, from  Sextus,  and  to  de- 
cide by  lot  between  themselves.  But  Brutus,  who  had  offered 
to  the  god  his  staff  of  cornel-wood,  which  he  had  secretly 
filled  with  gold  emblematic  of  himself,  divined  the  meaning 
of  the  oracle ;  as  they  came  down  the  hill  he  pretended  to 
stumble  and  fall,  and  as  he  l?iy  he  Jiissed  the  earth,  the 
common  mother  of  all. 

In  the  palace  garden  stood  a  stately  plane-tree  in 
which  two  eagles  had  built  their  nest.  One  day,  in  the 
absence  of  the  parent  birds,  vultures  came,  threw  the 
eaglets  out  of  the  nest,  and  drove  off  the  old  birds  on  their 
return.  The  king  also  dreamed  that  two  rams  were  brought 
to  him  at  the  altar,  he  chose  the  finer  for  sacrifice,  the  other 
then  cast  him  down  with  its  horns,  and  the  sun  turned  back 
from  east  to  west.*  In  vain  was  the  tyrant  warned  to  be- 
ware of  the  man  who  seemed  stupid  as  a  sheep  ;  fate  would 
tread  its  path. 

Tarq«inius  had  laid  siege  to  Ardea,  a  city  of  the  Rutu- 
lians  built  on  a  steep,  insulated  hill.  As  from  its  situation 
it  could  only  be  reduced  by  blockade,  the  lloman  army  lay 
in  patient  inactivity  at  its  foot.  The  king's  sons  diverted 
their  leisure  by  mutual  banquets,  at  one  of  which,  given  by 
Sextus,  they  and  their  cousin  Collatinus,  son  of  Egerius  of 
Collatia,  fell  into  a  dispute  respecting  the  virtues  of  their 
wives.  Collatinus,  who  warmly  maintained  the  superiority  of 
his  Lucretia,  proposed  that  they  should  mount  their  horses 
and  go  and  take  their  wives  by  surprise.  Warm  with  wine, 
the  youths  assented  ;  they  rode  to  Rome,  which  they  reached 
at  nightfall,  and  found  the  royal  ladies  revelling  at  a  ban- 
quet ;  they  thence  sped  to  Collatia,  and,  though  it  was  late 
in  the  night,  Lucretia  sat  spinning  among  her  maidens.  The 
prize  was  yielded  at  once  to  her,  and  with  cheerfulness  and 
modesty  she  received  and  entertained  her  husband  and  his 
cousins. 

Unhappy  Lucretia !  thy  simple  modesty  caused  thy  ruin. 
Sextus,  inflamed  by  the  sight  of  such  virtue  and  beauty 
united,  conceived  an  adulterous  passion,  and  a  few  days 
afterwards  he  came,  attended  by  a  single  slave,  to  Collatia. 
Lucretia  entertained  him  as  her  husband's  kinsman,  and  a 
chamber  was  assigned  him  for  the  night.     He  retired ;  and 


*  Attius  in  Cic.  de  Div.  i.  22. 
I* 


¥ 


Q^l 


*    *: 


^. 


30  HISTORY    OF    ROME. 

when  all  was  still  ne  rose,  took  his  drawn  sword,  and  sought 
the  chamber  of  his  hostess.  He  awoke  her,  told  his  love, 
prayed,  besought,  then  menaced  to  slay  her,  and  with  her 
his  slave,  and  to  declare  that  he  had  caught  and  slain  her 
in  the  base  act  of  servile  adultery.  The  dread  of  posthumous 
disgrace  prevailed  where  that  of  death  could  not,  and  she 
yielded  to  his  wishes.  In  the  morning  Sextus,  elate  with 
conquest,  returned  to  the  camp.  Lucretia  rose  from  the 
scene  of  her  disgrace,  and  sent  trusty  messengers  to  Ardea 
and  to  Rome  to  summon  her  husband  and  her  father  Lucre- 
tius. The  latter  came,  and  with  him  P.  Valerius ;  Colla- 
tinus  was  accompanied  by  L.  Junius  Brutus,  whom  he  met 
by  chance  on  the  way.  They  found  her  sitting  mournful 
in  her  chamber ;  she  told  the  direful  tale,  she  implored  them 
to  avenge  her,  she  declared  her  resolve  to  die.  They  sought 
to  console  her,  urging  that  she  was  stainless  in  thought, 
and  therefore  free  from  guilt;  but  she  drew  a  concealed 
knife,  and,  ere  they  were  aware,  she  had  buried  it  in  her 
heart.  The  husband  and  father  gave  a  loud  cry  of  grief; 
but  Brutus,  bursting  forth  from  the  cloud  of  folly  which 
had  hitherto  enveloped  him,  drew  the  reeking  weapon  from 
her  heart  and  swore  on  it  eternal  enmity  to  Tarquinius  and 
his  race.  He  handed  the  knife  to  the  others,  and  all,, 
amazed  at  the  change,  took  the  same  oath.  Grief  gave 
place  to  rage ;  the  body  of  Lucretia  was  brought  out  into 
the  market ;  Brutus,  pointing  to  her  wound,  excited  the 
spectators  to  vengeance ;  the  youth  ranged  themselves 
at  his  side,  and  leaving  a  sufficient  number  to  guard  the 
town  he  hastened  at  their  head  to  Rome.  By  virtue  of 
his  office  as  Tribune  of  the  Celeres,  he  called  an  assembly 
of  the  people ;  he  told  his  own  story ;  he  told  the  more  af- 
flicting tale  of  Lucretia's  fate  ;  he  dwelt  on  the  crimes,  the 
cruelty,  and  the  oppression  of  the  tyrant.  The  multitude 
took  fire ;  they  declared  royalty  abolished,  and  Tarquinius 
and  his  family  exiles.  Leaving  Lucretius  to  take  charge 
of  the  city,  Brutus  then  hastened  with  a  select  body  of  men 
to  the  camp  at  Ardea.  Tarquinius  meantime,  hearing  of 
what  had  occurred,  was  on  his  way  to  Rome ;  Brutus 
avoided  meeting  him,  and  was  received  >vith  acclamations 
by  the  troops;  the  tyrant  finding  the  gates  of  Rome  closed 
against  him,  retired  with  his  family  to  Csere.  Sextus  went 
to  Gabii,  which  he  esteemed  his  own ;  but  he  was  there 
slain  by  the  relations  of  some  of  those  whom  he  had  caused 
to  be  put  to  death. 


CONSPIRACY   At   ROME.  31 

yi  - 

Thus  after  a  duration  of  twenty-five  years,  ended  the 
reign  of  L.  Tarquinius,  the  last  king  of  Rome,  iil  the  244th 
year  from  the  building  of  the  city.  The  anniversary  of 
it,  under  the  name  of  King's-flight  (Regifugium,)  was  till 
remote  times  celebrated  on  the  24th  of  February  in  each 
year. 

A  truce  was  made  with  Ardea,  and  the  army  led  back  to 
Rome.  An  assembly  was  then  held,  the  city  was  purified  by 
sacrifices,  and  the  people  all  swore  upon  the  victims  never 
to  readmit  the  Tarquinii,  or  to  endure  a  king  in  Rome.  Two 
annual  magistrates,  under  the  name  of  Consuls,  were  placed 
at  the  head  of  the  state,  and  the  just  laws  of  Servius  were 
restored.  Brutus  and  Collatinus  were  appointed  to  be  the 
first  consuls. 

Tarquinius,  meantime,  had  not  resigned  all  hopes  of  recov- 
ering his  power.  The  exiles  of  his  party  were  numerous  ; 
many  in  the  city  were  in  his  favor,  and  if  he  could  obtain 
the  aid  of  some  powerful  state,  he  yet  might  enter  Rome  a 
conqueror.  He  therefore  applied  to  the  Tarquinians,  as 
his  family  had  originally  come  from  their  city.  They  re- 
ceived him  favorably,  and  ambassadors  were  sent  to  Rome 
to  demand  his  restoration,  or  at  least  the  property  there 
belonging  to  himself  and  his  friends.  The  senate  would 
not  listen  to  the  former  proposal ;  but  they  agreed  to  give  up 
the  movable  property.  The  ambassadors  tarried  at  Rome 
under  the  pretext  of  collecting  the  property  and  getting 
vehicles  for  its  conveyance,  but  in  reality  to  organize  a  plot 
in  favor  of  the  tyrant.  They  had  brought  letters  to  that 
effect  from  the  exiles  to  their  friends  and  relatives ;  and  a 
great  number  of  the  young  nobility,  who  could  ill  bear  the 
authority  of  law  and  the  power  given  to  the  people,  and 
who  regretted  the  license  of  the  days  of  the  tyrant,  readily 
entered  into  a  conspiracy  to  restore  him.  Among  these 
were  the  two  Aquilii,  the  nephews  of  Collatinus,  and  the 
Vitellii,  the  nephews  of  Brutus,  whose  own  two  sons,  Titus 
and  Tiberius,  were  induced  to  engage  in  the  foul  conspiracy 
to  undo  the  glorious  work  of  their  father. 

The  ambassadors  required  from  them  letters  to  the  tyrant 
sealed  with  their  signets.  They  met  for  this  purpose  at 
the  house  of  the  Aquilii  under  pretext  of  a  sacrifice.  After 
the  solemn  banquet  they  ordered  the  slaves  to  retire,  and 
then  with  closed  doors  composed  and  wrote  the  letters. 
But  one  of  the  slaves,  named  Vindicius,  suspecting  what 
they  were  about,  remained  outside  and  through  a  slit  in  the 


32  BISTORT    OF    ROME. 

door  beheld  all  their  proceedings.  He  sped  away  and  gave 
information,  and  all  the  conspirators  were  seized  in  the 
fact.  ' 

Ea^jly  in  the  morning  the  consuls  took  their  seats  of  jus- 
tice in  public  ;  the  conspirators  were  led  before  them  ;  Bru- 
tus, in  right  of  his  paternal  authority,  conde;nned  his  sons 
to  death ;  the  lictors  stripped  and  scourged  them  according 
to  usage,  the  consul's  features  remained  unmoved,  and  he 
calmly  saw  the  axe  descend  and  deprive  his  offspring  of 
life.  No  mercy  could  be  expected  for  the  others;  all  bled 
in  turn.  Liberty,  a  gift  from  the  treasury,  and  citizenship 
were  the  reward  of  the  loyal  slave.  The  rights  of  nations 
were  respected  in  the  ambassadors ;  but  the  property  of  the 
tyrant  was  given  up  to  pillage  to  the  people.  A  large  field 
which  he  possessed  outside  of  the  city,  by  the  Tiber,  was 
consecrated  to  the  god  Mars.  There  was  on  it  at  this  time 
a  ripe  crop  of  spelt  •  religion  forbidding  it  to  be  used  for 
food,  it  was  cut  and  cast  into  the  Tiber.  As  the  river  was 
then  low,  the  corn  stopped  on  the  shallows,  and  from  the 
addition  of  other  floating  matter  it  gradually  formed  an 
island  before  the  city. 

The  jealousy  of  the  people  now  extended  to  the  whole 
Tarquinian  house,  and  even  Collatinus  had  to  yield  to  the 
remonstrances  of  his  colleague  and  quit  Rome.  He  re- 
tired with  all  his  property  to  Lavinium,  where  he  ended 
his  days.  Valerius  was  chosen  consul  in  his  stead,  and  a 
decree  was  passed  declaring  the  whole  Tarquinian  house 
exiles. 

Tarquinius,  convinced  that  his  return  could  only  be  ef- 
fected by  force,  addressed  himself  to  the  Veientines,  whom 
by  large  promises  he  induced  to  arm  in  his  cause.  Their 
troops,  united  with  those  of  the  Tarquinians  and  the  Roman 
exiles,  entered  the  Roman  territory  on  the  Tuscan  side  of 
the  Tiber ;  the  Romans  advanced  to  meet  them,  Valerius 
commanding  the  foot,  Brutus  the  horse.  The  enemy's 
horse  was  led  by  Tarquinius'  son  Aruns,  who,  recognizing 
the  consul,  spurred  his  horse  against  him.  Brutus  did  not 
decline  the  combat;  rage  stimulated  both  ;  they  thought  not 
of  defence  ;  the  spear  of  each  pierced  his  rival's  shield  and 
body,  and  both  fell  dead  to  the  earth,  A  general  engage- 
ment, first  of  the  horse,  then  of  the  foot,  ensued ;  the  Veien- 
tines, used  to  defeat,  turned  and  fled  ;  the  Tarquinians  routed 
those  opposed  to  them.  Night  ended  the  conflict ;  neither 
side  owned  itself  vanquished  ;  but  at  the  dead  hour  of  night 


DEATH    OF    BRUTUS.  33 

the  voice  of  the  wood-god  Silvanus  was  heard  to  cry  from 
the  adjacent  forest  of  Arsia  that  the  Tuscans  were  beaten, 
as  one  more  had  fallen  on  their  side.  At  dawn  no  enemy 
was  to  be  seen ;  the  Romans  counted  the  slain,  and  found 
11,300  Tuscans,  11,299  Romans  on  the  field.  Valerius 
collected  the  spoil  and  returned  in  triumph  to  Rome.  Next 
day  the  obsequies  of  Brutus  were  performed ;  the  matrons 
of  Rome  mourned  a  year,  as  for  a  parent,  for  the  avenger 
of  violated  chastity.  In  after-times  his  statute  of  bronze, 
bearing  a  drawn  sword,  stood  on  the  Capitol  in  the  midst 
of  those  of  the  seven  kings.* 

Valerius  delayed  the  election  of  a  successor  to  Brutus ;  he 
was  moreover  building  himself  a  house  of  stone  on  the  sum- 
mit of  the  Velia,t  above  the  Forum,  and  a  suspicion  arose 
that  he  was  aiming  at  the  kingly  power.  When  he  heard 
of  this,  he  stopped  the  building ;  the  people  then  gave  him 
a  piece  of  ground  at  the  foot  of  the  hill  to  build  on,  and  the 
privilege  of  having  his  doors  to  open  back  into  the  street. 
The  honor  of  precedence  at  the  public  games  was  accorded 
to  him  and  his  posterity,  as  also  was  that  of  burying  their 
dead  within  the  walls.  These  honors  were  the  reward  of 
the  public  spirit  of  Valerius.  His  object  in  delaying  the 
election  had  been  that  he  should  not  be  impeded  by  a  col- 
league in  the  good  measures  he  proposed.  He  convoked 
the  curies,  f  before  whom  he  lowered  his  fasces  in  acknowl- 
edgment that  the  consular  power  proceeded  from  them,  § 
and  proposed  a  law,  outlawing  any  person  who  should  usurp 
the  regal  power.  He  assembled  the  centuries,  1|  and  had 
the  right  of  appeal  from  the  consuls,^  which  the  patricians 
had  to  their  peers  in  the  curies,  extended  to  the  plebeians  in 
their  tribes,  and,  as  an  evidence  of  this  right,  directed  that 
no  axes  should  be  borne  in  the  fasces  within  the  city.  He 
then  held  the  consular  election ;  Sp.  Lucretius  was  chosen, 


*  Plutarch,  Brutus  1.  See  also  Dion  Cassius,  xliii.  45.  Ovid,  Fasti, 
vi.  624. 

t  The  Velia  was  a  ridge  running  from  the  Palatine  to  tiie  Esquiline. 

X  "  Vocato  ad  concilium  populo"  Liv.  ii.  7.  For  the  meaning  of 
popvlus,  see  below,  Ch.  v. 

§  Hence  he  was  named  Poplicola,  i.  e.  Publicus.  "  The  right  un- 
derstanding of  the  word  popvlus  dissipates  the  fancy  that  Poplicola 
was  the  designation  of  a  demagogue  like  Pericles,  who  courted  the 
favor  of  the  multitude."     Niebuhr,  i.  p.  521. 

11  Cicero  de  Rep.  ii.  31. 

IT  The  right  of  appeal  for  both  only  extended  to  a  mile  from  the 
city ;  the  unlimited  imperium  began  there. 

E 


34  HISTORY    OF    ROME. 

but  he  dying  shortly  after,  M.  Horatius  was  elected.  As 
the  temple  of  Jupiter  was  now  finished,  the  lot  was  to  decide 
which  consul  should  dedicate  it :  fortune  favored  Horatius 
Valerius  went  to  war  against  the  Veientines,  but  his  kinsmen, 
vexed  that  such  an  honor  should  fall  to  Horatius,  sought  to 
impede  the  ceremony.  He  had  laid  hold  of  the  door-post, 
according  to  usage,  and  was  pronouncing  the  prayer,  when 
one  came  crying,  **  Thy  son  is  dead,  thou  canst  not  dedicate 
it ; "  one  word  of  lamentation  had  broken  the  ceremony. 
*'  Let  the  corpse  be  brought  forth,"  replied  he  calmly,  and 
concluded  the  prayer  and  the  dedication. 

The  banished  tyrant  now  applied  to  Lars  Porsenna,  lord 
of  Clusium,  the  most  powerful  prince  of  Etruria.  The 
Tuscan,  fired  at  the  idea  of  extending  his  sway  beyond  the 
Tiber,  set  his  troops  in  motion.  He  suddenly  appeared  at 
the  Janiculan ;  those  who  guarded  it  fled  over  the  Sublician 
bridge  into  the  city  ;  the  Tuscans  pursued ;  they  reached  the 
bridge ;  but  Horatius  Codes,  who  had  the  charge  of  guard- 
ing it,  and  two  other  heroes,  Sp.  Larcius  and  T.  Herminius, 
there  met  and  withstood  them.  At  the  command  of  Hora- 
tius those  behind  broke  down  the  bridge ;  he  forced  his  two 
brave  mates  to  retire,  the  Tuscans  raised  a  shout  and  sent 
a  shower  of  darts,  which  he  received  on  his  shield ;  they 
rushed  on  to  force  the  passage,  a  loud  crash  and  a  shout 
behind  told  that  the  bridge  was  broken ;  Horatius,  calling 
on  Father  Tiber  to  receive  his  soldier,  plunged  into  the 
stream,  armed  as  he  was ;  in  vain  the  Tuscans  showered 
their  darts  ;  he  reached  the  further  side  in  safety.  Though 
suffering  at  the  time  from  famine,  the  citizens  gave  him  each 
a  portion  of  his  corn,  and  the  republic  afterwards  bestowed 
on  him  as  much  land  as  he  could  plough  round  in  a  day, 
and  erected  his  statute  in  the  Comitium. 

Porsenna  encamped  along  the  Tiber ;  the  famine  pressed 
heavily  at  Rome :  then  a  noble  youth,  named  C.  Mucins, 
conceived  the  thought  of  delivering  his  country.  He  went 
to  the  senate,  and  craved  permission  to  pass  over  to  the 
Tuscan  camp.  Leave  was  granted  ;  he  concealed  a  dagger 
beneath  his  garments,  and  crossed  the  Tiber.  He  entered 
a  crowd  collected  around  the  king,  who  was  issuing  pay  to 
his  troops ;  at  the  side  of  Porsenna,  habited  nearly  as  the 
king,  sat  his  secretary  busily  engaged.  Mucins,  fearing  to 
inquire  which  was  Porsenna,  struck  his  weapon  into  the 
secretary,  whom  he  took  for  the  king.  He  turned,  and 
tried  to  force  his  way  through  the  throng ;  but  he  was  seized 


WAR   WITH    PORSENNA.  35 

and  dragged  before  Porsenna's  judgment-seat.  He  told  his 
name  and  country  boldly,  adding,  that  many  noble  youths 
were  prepared  to  act  as  he  had  done.  Porsenna,  terrified, 
threatened  to  burn  him  alive  if  he  did  not  make  an  ample 
confession.  There  was  a  fire  on  an  altar  close  by  ;  Mucius 
thrust  his  right  hand  into  it,  and  held  it  there  with  an  un- 
moved countenance.  The  king  in  amaze  leaped  from  his 
seat,  had  him  removed  from  the  altar,  and  gave  him  his  life 
and  liberty.  Mucius  then  told  him  that  he  was  one  of  three 
hundred  youths  who  had  sworn  his  death ;  the  lot  had  first 
fallen  on  him,  but  that  each  would  take  his  turn.  He  re- 
turned to  Rome,  and  he  was  afterwards  rewarded  by  a  grant 
of  land,  similar  to  that  of  Horatius  Codes.  He  and  his 
posterity  bore  the  name  of  Scaevola,  {Left-handed,)  to  com- 
memorate his  daring  deed. 

Ambassadors  from  Porsenna  came  soon  after  to  propose  a 
peace.  The  interests  of  Tarquinius  were  neglected  by  his 
ally,  who  only  required  that  the  Romans  should  give  the 
Veientines  back  their  lands.  These  terms  were  accepted, 
and  ten  patrician  youths,  and  as  many  maidens,  were  sent 
as  hostages  into  the  Tuscan  camp.  But  Cloelia,  one  of  the 
maidens,  urged  her  companions  to  attempt  escape ;  and  she 
and  they,  eluding  their  guards,  plunged  into  the  Tiber  and 
swam  across.  Porsenna  sent  to  demand  their  restoration ; 
the  senate  sent  them  back,  and  the  admiring  monarch  gave 
Clcelia  leave  to  select  such  of  the  hostages  of  the  other  sex 
as  she  wished,  and  presented  her  with  a  horse  and  trappings ; 
and  the  Romans  afterwards  raised  an  equestrian  statue  in 
her  honor.  When  Porsenna  was  departing,  he  presented 
the  Romans  with  his  well-stored  camp  on  the  Janiculan. 
The  senate  in  return  sent  him  an  ivory  throne,  a  sceptre  and 
crown  of  gold,  and  a  triumphal  robe,  such  as  their  kings 
were  wont  to  wear. 

Some  time  after  Porsenna  sent  his  son  Aruns  with  an 
army  against  Aricia,  one  of  the  chief  towns  of  Latium. 
The  Aricines  were  aided  by  the  other  Latins  and  by  the 
Greeks  of  Cumae  in  Campania :  the  Tuscans  were  defeated, 
and  their  general  slain.  The  fugitives  met  with  such  kind 
treatment  at  Rome,  that  many  of  them  remained  there,  and 
built  the  Tuscan  Street,  ( Vicus  Tuscus ;)  and  Porsenna,  not 
to  be  outdone  in  generosity,  gave  back  the  hostages  and  the 
lands  beyond  the  Tiber. 

Tarquinius  had  finally  taken  refuge  with  his  son-in-law  at 
Tusculum,  and  he  at  length  succeeded  in  inducing  the  Latin 


BO  HISTORY    OF    ROMEi 

federation  to  arm  in  his  cause.  As  the  two  nations  had  long 
been  closely  connected,  a  year's  truce  was  agreed  on  to  ar- 
range all  private  affairs ;  and  permission  was  given  to  the 
women  of  each  people,  who  had  married  into  the  other,  to 
return  to  their  friends.  All  the  Roman  women  came  to 
Rome,  and  but  two  of  the  Latins  departed  from  it. 

The  shores  of  the  Lake  Regillus,  in  the  lands  of  Tuscu- 
lum,  witnessed  thoj^ast  effort  in  the  cause  of  the  Tarquinii. 
The  Romans  were  commanded  by  the  dictator,  A.  Postu- 
naius,  and  the  master  of  the  horse,*  T.  iEbutius ;  the  Latins 
were  led  by  Octavius  Mamilius.  King  Tarquinius,  regard- 
less of  his  advanced  age,  headed  the  Roman  exiles ;  and  as 
soon  as  he  beheld  the  dictator,  he  spurred  his  horse  against 
him,  but  a  wound  in  the  side  from  the  spear  of  Postumius 
forced  him  to  retire.  On  the  other  wing,  ^Ebutius  ran 
against  Mamilius ;  the  former  had  an  arm  broken ;  the  Latin 
was  struck  in  the  breast,  but,  uninjured  by  the  blow,  he 
brought  up  the  corps  of  exiles,  and  the  Romans  began  to 
give  way.  M.  Valerius,  the  brother  of  Poplicola,  ran  at  the 
younger  Tarquinius ;  the  prince  drew  back,  Valerius  rushed 
among  the  exiles,  and  fell  pierced  by  a  spear ;  the  two  sons 
of  Poplicola  perished  in  the  attempt  to  recover  his  body. 
The  dictator  now  falls  on  the  exiles,  and  routs  them ;  Ma- 
milius brings  troops  to  their  aid ;  he  is  met  and  slain  by 
T.  Herminius,  who  himself  receives  a  mortal  wound  as  he  is 
stripping  the  body  of  the  slain.  The  dictator  flies  to  the 
horse,  and  implores  them  to  dismount  and  restore  the  battle; 
they  obey ;  fired  by  their  example,  the  foot  charge  once 
more ;  the  Latins  turn  and  fly ;  the  Roman  horse  remount 
and  pursue,  and  the  Latin  camp  is  taken.  During  the 
battle,  the  dictator  vowed  a  temple  to  Castor  and  Pollux. 
Two  youths  of  great  size  were  seen  mounted  on  white 
horses  in  the  van  of  the  fight,  and  ere  the  pursuit  was  over, 
they  appeared  at  Rome,  covered  with  blood  and  dirt,  washed 
themselves  and  their  arms  at  the  fount  of  Juturna,  by  the 
temple  of  Vesta,  and  having  announced  the  victory,  dis- 
appeared. Afler-ages  beheld  on  a  basaltic  rock,  by  the  Lake 
Regillus,  the  print  of  a  horse's  hoof  f 
-H  Tarquinius  fled  to  Cumae,  whose  tyrant  Aristodemus  gave 
him  a  friendly  reception.  He  died  in  that  town,  and  with 
him  expired  all  hopes  of  reestablishing  royalty  at  Rome. 

*  These  offices  will  be  explained  in  the  sequel. 
t  Cicero  de  Nat.  Deor.  iii.  5. 


THE   REGAL   PERIOD   OF    ROME.  07 


CHAPTER  IV. 

THE   REGAL   PERIOD  OF   ROME,  ACCORDING  TO   THE  VIEWS    OF 
NIEBUHR. 

Such  are  the  earlier  events  of  the  history  of  Rome,  as 
they  were  sung  in  the  poetic  Annals  of  Ennius,  and  related 
by  Fabius  Pictor,  the  father  of  Roman  history.  That  they 
are  mythic  and  semimythic  must  be  at  once  discerned  by 
every  one  who  is  acquainted  with  the  character  of  early 
home-sprung  history;  but  we  are  not  thereby  entitled  to 
view  them  with  contempt,  and  fling  them  away  as  useless. 
They  have  been  closely  interwoven  into  the  institutions  and 
literature  of  the  state,  and  therefore  must  be  known,  and  it  is 
only  by  means  of  them  that  the  real  history  can  be  divined ; 
nor  should  the  delight  which  they  afford  the  imagination, 
and  the  exercise  which  they  furnish  for  the  powers  of  the 
mind  in  general  be  overlooked.  We  therefore  make  no 
apology  for  having  lingered  among  them. 

Nearly  a  century  ago,  this  character  of  the  early  Roman 
history  was  discerned  by  Beaufort,  who,  however,  carried  his 
scepticism  somewhat  too  far.  The  fullest  and  most  satisfac- 
tory examination  of  it  was  reserved  for  our  own  days;  and 
the  learning,  the  labors,  and  the  sagacity  of  Niebuhr  have 
altered  the  whole  face  of  the  early  Roman  story.  We  will 
now  briefly  give  his  views  of  the  portion  of  the  history 
above  narrated.* 

The  war  of  Troy  is  so  completely  mythic,  that  we  cannot 
with  safety  regard  any  portion  of  it  as  strictly  historical. 
The  voyage  of  iEneas  to  Latium  is  therefore  entitled  to 
little  more  credit  than  the  tale  of  his  divine  birth;  yet,  in 
the  opinion  of  Niebuhr,  it  is  no  Grecian  invention,  but  a 
domestic  Roman  tradition.  It  is,  he  thinks,  indebted  for 
its  origin  to  the  circumstance  of  the  original  population  of 
both  Troy  and  Latium  being  Pelasgian.  As  the  religion  of 
the  whole  of  this  race  was  the  same,  and  the  sacred  isle  of 
Samothrace  a  place  of  common  pilgrimage,  those  who  met 
there,  such,  for  example,  as  the  Lavinians  of  Latium  and 
the  Gfergethians  of  Mount  Ida,  may  have  easily  accounted 


*  In  the  text  of  this  and  the  next  chapter  we  confine  ourselves  to 
Niebuhr's  views.  Our  own  remarks  and  those  of  others  will  be  placed 
in  the  notes. 

4 


ab  HISTORY   OF   ROME. 

for  their  similarity  of  faith  and  institutions,  by  supposing 
the  more  distant  ones  to  be  colonies  from  Asia ;  and  the 
destruction  of  Troy  and  dispersion  of  its  inhabitants  offered 
a  ready  derivation  of  the  colonies.  It  was,  then,  no  diffi- 
cult matter  to  make  an  ignorant  people,  like  the  early 
Romans,  believe  in  an  origin  thus  calculated  to  do  them 
honor. 

The  succession  of  Alban  kings*  from  lulus  to  Numitor 
is  a  pure  fiction,  intended  to  fill  up  the  space  which  the 
Greek  chronology  gave  between  the  fall  of  Troy  and  the 
building  of  Rome.  Alba  stood  at  the  head  of  thirty  towns, 
(PopuK  Albenses,)  and  was  in  union  with  the  confederation 
of  the  thirty  Latin  towns.  She  had  the  supremacy,  and 
all  shared  in  the  flesh  of  a  victim,  annually  slain  on  the 
Alban  mount.  Lavinium  was  founded  by  settlers  sent 
from  the  thirty  Alban  and  thirty  Latin  towns,  (ten  from 
each,)  and,  like  the  Panionion,  it  was  so  named  as  being  the 
seat  of  congress  of  the  Latins,  who  were  also  called  La- 
vines.t 

The  Siculans,  Tyrrhenians,  Aborigines,  or  however  the 
early  Pelasgian  inhabitants  of  Latium  may  have  been  named, 
dwelt  in  villages  on  eminences  which  might  be  easily  de- 
fended. Thus  beyond  the  Tiber  there  was  Vaticum,  or 
Vatica,!  and  another,  whose  name  is  unknown,  stood  on 
the  summit  of  the  Janiculan.  On  the  Palatine  was  a  town 
named  Roma,  and  on  the  Caelian  another,  which  we  have 
reason  to  think  was  named  Lucer  or  Lucerum ;  and  further 
down  the  river  §  probably  another  called  Remuria ;  while  on 
the  Quirinal  and  Tarpeian  above  Roma,  being  separated  by 
a  swamp  and  marsh  from  the  Palatine,  was  another  town 
named  Q,uirium.  This  last  belonged  to  the  Sabines,  who 
had  extended  themselves  thus  far  along  the  Tiber.  Roma 
was  probably  one  of  the  towns  that  acknowledged  the  su- 
premacy of  Alba,  and  warfare  of  course  was  frequent  be- 
tween it  and  Quirium,   and  the   former   would  appear  to 


*  The  names  of  these  kings  in  Livy  are,  Silvius,  ^neas,  Latinus, 
Alba,  Atys,  Capys,  Capetus,  Tiberinus,  Agrippa,  Romulus,  Aven- 
tinus,  Procas,  Numitor,  and  Amulius.  The  lists  in  Dionysius  and 
Ovid  (Met.  xiv.  609 :  Fasti,  iv,  41)  differ  slightly  from  this. 

t  Turnus,  Latinus,  and  Lavinia  are  nothing  but  personifications  of 
Tyrrhenians,  Latins,  and  Lavines. 

X  For  there  was  an  ager  Vaticamis,  and,  as  numerous  examples 
show,  this  infers  a  town. 

§  Not  on  the  Aventine,  for  then  Roma  could  have  had  no  territory. 


THE    REGAL    PERIOD    OF    ROME.  39 

have  at  length  become  subject  to  the  latter.  The  tale  of 
the  rape  of  the  Sabine  maidens,*  and  the  consequent  war, 
may  represent  how  at  one  time  there  had  been  no  right  of 
intermarriage  {connubium)  between  the  two  towns,  and  how 
the  subject  one,  by  force  of  arms,  raised  itself  to  an  equality 
in  civil  rights,  and  even  acquired  the  preponderance.  When 
the  two  were  united,  they  built  the  double  Janus  on  the 
road  leading  from  the  Q,uirinal  to  the  Palatine,  with  a  door 
facing  each.  It  was  open  in  time  of  war  for  mutual  suc- 
cor, shut  in  time  of  peace  to  prevent  quarrels,  or  in  proof 
of  the  towns  being  distinct,  though  united. 

For  some  time  each  town  had  its  own  king,  senate, 
and  popular  assembly,  and  they  used  to  meet  on  occasions 
of  common  interest  on  the  Comitium,  in  the  valley  between 
the  two  towns.  At  length,  as  the  two  peoples  coalesced 
more  and  more,  and  the  danger  from  Etruria  or  Alba  became 
more  pressing,  they  agreed  to  have  but  one  senate,  one 
assembly,  and  one  king,  to  be  chosen  alternately  by  one 
people  out  of  the  other.  On  all  solemn  occasions  the  two 
combined  peoples  were  now  styled  Populus  Romdnus  et 
Quirites.f 

In  early  antiquity,  almost  every  state  was  divided  into 
tribes,  resulting  from  conquest  or  from  difference  of  origin. 
We  might  therefore  expect  to  find  this  the  case  in  the 
present  instance  ;  and  accordingly  we  learn  that  the  Ro- 
mans formed  a  tribe  named  Ramnes,  and  the  Sabines  one 
named  Titienses.  But  we  meet  a  third,  the  Luceres,  whose 
origin  it  is  much  more  difficult  to  ascertain.  Another  form 
of  the  name,  however,  Lucertes,  leads  to  the  supposition  of 
their  being  the  inhabitants  of  a  town  named  Lucer  or  Lu- 
cerum,  which  is  to  be  sought  on  the  Caelian,  which  be- 
longed to  Roma  in  the  time  of  Romulus,  that  is,  before  its 
union  with  duirium ;  for  it  was  here  that  Tullus  Hostilius 
placed  the  Albans,  and  a  branch  of  the  Roman  people  is 

*  In  the  more  ancient  form  of  the  legend  there  are  but  thirty 
maidens,  who  are,  therefore,  nothing  but  personifications  of  the  names 
of  the  Curies. 

t  Or,  after  the  old  Roman  manner,  Populus  Romanus  Quirites, 
which  was  afterwards  corrupted  to  Populus  Romanus  Quiritium:  see 
above,  p.  4.  The  fixedness  of  the  Roman  character  showed  itself  even 
in  the  retention  of  old  names  and  forms;  a  name  was  never  let  go  out 
of  use  so  long  as  an  object  to  apply  it  to  could  be  found.  Thus,  when 
the  distinction  between  the  two  original  component  parts  of  the 
Roman  people  had  ceased,  the  term  Quirites  was  retained,  and  applied 
to  the  Plebs  ! 


40  BISTORT   OF   ROME. 

assigned  to  Tullus,  as  the  Ramnes  and  Titienses  are  to  Romu- 
lus and  Numa,  and  the  Plebs  to  Ancus,  and  none  remains 
for  him  but  the  Luceres.  These  were  of  Latin  origin,  and 
were  subject  to  the  Romans.  They  long  continued  inferior 
to  the  other  two,  and  were  not  admitted  to  the  deliberations 
on  the  Comitium. 

The  whole  legend  of  Romulus  and  Remus  is  purely  my- 
thic. When  Rome  became  a  state  of  some  importance,  its 
people  naturally  looked  back  and  sought  to  trace  its  origin. 
It  is  probable  that  at  this  time  they  had  some  knowledge 
of  Grecian  literature ;  and  as  the  Greeks  had  adopted  the 
practice  of  deriving  the  names  in  their  topography  from 
those  of  supposed  kings  and  princes,  the  Romans  inferred 
that  their  city  must  have  been  founded  by  a  Romus  or  Rom- 
ulus.* If,  as  is  above  hinted,  there  was  a  town  named 
Remuria  in  the  neighborhood,  whose  people  were  of  the 
s^me  race  as  themselves,  and  had  been  sometimes  at  peace, 
sometimes  at  war  with  them,  and* had  finally  been  overcome, 
they  might  have  inferred  that  Remus,  its  founder,  had  been 
the  twin-rbrother  of  Romulus,  and  was  slain  by  him  in  a  fit 
of  anger.  The  notion  of  their  city  having  been  founded  by 
twins  would  gather  strength  from  the  circumstance  of  their 
state  having  all  along  developed  itself  in  a  double  form. 
That  the  legend  grew  up  on  the  spot  is  proved  by  the  wolfs 
den,  the  Rumirial  fig-tree,  and  the  other  local  circumstances. 
Gradually,  as  is  always  the  case,  the  story  received  various 
additions,  and  the  legends  of  other'  countries  were  perhaps 
transferred  to  it,  and  it  thus  assumed  the  form  in  which  it 
haa^been  transmitted  to  us.f 


*  One  acquainted  with  mythology  will  not  be  easily  led  to  believe 
that,  in  remote  antiquity,  countries  and  towns  were  named  from  per- 
sons. The  Greek  logographers  gave  vogue  to  this  notion,  of  which 
no  trace  appears  in  Homer  or  Hesiod  ;  but  the  first  town  really  named 
after  a  man  was  Philippi,  after  Philip  of  Macedonia,  (See  History 
of  Greece,  p.  381.) 

f  The  tale  of  the  exposure  of  the  twins,  and  their  preservation,  re- 
minds us  at  once  of  the  legend  of  Cyrus,  and  of  those  of  Asclepios, 
Paris,  and  others  in  Grecian  mythology.  It  more  closely  resembles 
the  Iberian  legend  of  Habis,  (Justin,  xliv.)  which  last  is  extremely 
similar  to  that  of  Orson  in  the  romance.  It  is  remarkable  that  many 
name?  in  the  early  Roman  legends  seem  to  be  of  Greek  origin.  Thus 
we  have  Evander,  (Good-man,)  Cacus,  [Bad,)  Amulius,  (Cunning, 
at^tvlog,)  Numitor  and  Numa,  (Lawful,  vouoc:.)  It  does  not,  how- 
ever, hence  follow  that  the  legendary  history  of  Rome  was  the  inven- 
tion of  the  Greeks  ;  the  Romans  themselves  may  have  had  a  fondness, 
even  in  the  early  ages,  for  using  Greek  names. 


THE    REGAL    PERIOD    OF    ROME.  41 

Numa,  like  Romulus,  is  an  ideal  personage,  the  symbol 
of  the  early  religious  institutions  of  the  state.  As  these 
were  chiefly  Sabine,  he  was  made  to  be  of  that  nation,  but 
in  the  original  legend  he  must  have  been  a  natire  of  dui- 
rium,  not  of  Cures. 

The  purely  mythic  portion  of  Roman  story  terminates 
with  Numa.  The  dawn  of  reality  begins  to  glimmer  with 
the  reign  of  Tullus  Hostilius.  That  Alba  was  destroyed, 
and  that  a  portion  of  its  population  migrated  to  Rome,  are 
historic  facts ;  but  the  probability  is,  that  the  Romans  and 
Latins  in  conjunction  took  Alba  and  divided  its  territory 
and  people ;  for  it  was  the  Italian  law  of  nations  that  the 
lands  of  the  vanquished  became  the  property  of  the  con- 
queror, and  we  find  the  territory  about  Alba  belonging  to 
the  Latins,  not  to  the  Romans.  Or  Alba  may  have  been 
destroyed  by  the  Latins  alone,  and  its  people  have  sought 
refuge  at  Rome. 

The  reign  of  Ancus  offeft  none  of  the  features  of  poetry  ; 
the  events  which  it  contains  are  all  historical,  though  they 
may  not  all  belong  to  that  time. 

With  Tarquinius  Priscus  the  poetic  history  reappears. 
The  Corinthian,  and  even  the  Etruscan,  origin  of  this  prince 
is  apparently  mere  fiction ;  while  his  surname  of  Priscus, 
Caia  Caecilia  the  name  of  his  wife  in  an  old  legend,  and 
the  fact  of  there  being  a  Tarquinian  house  nt  Rome,  testify 
strongly  for  his  Alban,  that  is,  Latin  origin.  For,  as  has 
been  shown  above,*  the  Priscans  were  a  people  united  with  \ 
the  Latins,  like  the  Quirites  with  the  Romans ;  and  as  the 
names  Auruncus,  Siculus,  and  others,  affixed  to  those  of  per- 
sons in  the  early  ages  of  Rome,  denote  from  what  people 
they  sprang,  that  of  Priscus  could  only  have  been  attached 
to  a  person  of  Priscan  origin. t  Moreover  Els  the  Servilii, 
with  whom  Priscus  was  a  surname,  were  one  of  the  Alban 
houses  on  the  Caelian,  and  therefore  belonged  to  the  Lu- 
ceres,  it  seems  to  follow  that  the  Tarquinii  also  belonged 
to  this  tribe,  and  of  this  sufficient  proofs  appear.  Caia 
Csecilia's  name,  for  instance,  refers  us  to  Praeneste,  said  to 
have  been  built  by  CsbcuIus  the  Eponymus,  or  heroic  founder 
of  her   house.     If,   moreover,   Tarquinius   was    of   Alban 

*  See  p.  4. 

t  To  us  it  appears  more  probable  that  Priscus  and  Superbus  were 
first  used  in  after-times,  and  after  the  former  had  gotten  the  significa- 
tion of  old,  to  distinguish  the  Tarquinii.  If  Priscus  was  a  cognomen, 
it  would  have  adhered  to  the  family. 

4*  F 


42  BISTORT    OF    ROME. 

extraction,  the  worship  of  the  Greek  gods  at  the  Roman 
games,  said  to  have  been  introduced  by  him,  and  so  inex- 
plicable on  the  theory  of  his  being  an  Etruscan,  becomes 
easy  of  solution ;  for  the  Albans,  though  mixed  with  Pris- 
cans,  were  mainly  Tyrrhenians,  and  the  religion  of  Rome 
had  been  hitherto  chiefly  Sabine. 

The  poetic  legend  of  Servius  Tullius  is  utterly  at  variance 
with  the  following  passage  in  a  speech  of  the  Emperor 
Claudius,  who  was  well  acquainted  with  Etruscan  litera- 
ture.* "According  to  our  annals,"  says  he,  "  Servius  Tul- 
lius was  the  son  of  the  captive  Ocrisia ;  if  we  follow  the 
Tuscans,  he  was  the  faithful  follower  of  Caeles  Vivenna, 
and  shared  in  all  his  fortunes.  At  Last,  being  overpowered 
through  a  variety  of  disasters,  he  quitted  Etruria  witH  the 
remains  of  the  array  that  had  served  under  Ca3les,  went  to 
Rome,  and  occupied  the  CaElian  hill,  calling  it  so  after  his 
former  commander.  He  exchanged  his  Tuscan  name  Mas- 
tarna  for  a  Roman  one,  obtained  the  kingly  power,  and 
^yielded  it  to  the  great  good  of  the  state."  Still  the  truth 
of  this  statement  is  not  to  be  at  once  acquiesced  in.  Clau- 
dius was  a  man  of  no  judgment ;  Etrus^can  annals  contin- 
ued to  be  written  down  at  least  to  the  time  of  Sulla, 
when  Etruria  lost  her  independence ;  each  annalist,  without 
having  any  new  sources  of  knowledge,  expanded  and  en- 
larged the  accounts  of  his  predecessors ;  there  may  have 
been  an  old  tale  of  a  chief  named  Mastarna  retiring  to  and 
settling  at  Rome,  and  some  annalist  may  have  chosen  to 
^ss^i^that  he  was  Servius  Tullius.  It  moreover  does  not 
follow  that  this  account  gained  general  credence  even  in 
Etruria.  It  is  to  be  remarked,  that  among  the  Luceres 
there  was  a  house  of  the  Tullii,  which  would  seem  to  make 
Servius,  like  Tarquinius,  one  of  thera.f 

"  The  legends  of  Tarquinius  and  Servius,  however,"  says 
Niebuhr,  **  clearly  imply  that  there  was  a  time  when  Rome 
received  Tuscan  institutions  from  a  prince  of  Etruria,  and 
was  the  great  and  splendid  capital  of  a  powerful  Etruscan 


*  It  was  on  two  brazen  tables,  found  at  Lyons  in  the  16th  century. 

t  There  is  something  very  strange  in  a  leader  of  mercenary  troops, 
like  the  Charid^muses  of  Greece,  the  Sforzas  and  Braccios  of  modern 
Italy,  being  the  author  of  a  wise  and  beneficent  system  of  legislation, 
such  as  that  of  Servius  Tullius.  Is  there  any  other  instance  of  the 
total  rejection  of  a  foreign,  and  the  assumption  of  a  Roman  name,  in 
the  early  ages  ?  The  change  of  Attus  Clausus  to  Appius  Claudius, 
even  if  real,  is  of  quite  a  different  kind. 


THE    REGAL    PERIOD    OF    ROME.  43 

State."  Perhaps  Veii,  or  one  of  the  adjoining  Tuscan  states, 
conquered  Rome ;  perhaps  Ceeles  or  Mastarna,  or  some 
other  Tuscan  leader,  got  the  government  into  his  hands  ;  * 
possibly  it  may  have  been  the  transient  dominion  of  Por- 
senna,  presently  to  be  noticed.t 

The  tragic  fate  of  Servius  and  the  crimes  of  Tullia  are, 
perhaps,  purely  imaginary  events  ;  this  much,  however,  is 
certain  that  the  noble  system  of  legislation  which  bears  his 
name  was  rendered  abortive  by  a  counter-revolution ;  wheth- 
er it  was  attended  with  bloodshed  and  atrocities  or  not, 
is  a  matter  of  little  importance. 

The  whole  poetic  tale  of  the  last  Tarquinius  is  full  of 
inconsistencies  and  contradictions.  Thus  Brutus,  we  are 
told,  was  of  the  same  age  with  thfe  king's  sons,  and  was  re- 
garded as  an  idiot.  We  may  therefore  suppose  him  not  to 
have  been  more  than  five-and-twenty  at  the  time  of  the  rev- 
olution, yet  he  had  grown-up  ^  sons  at  that  time,  and 
though  a  natural,  was  invested  with  one  of  the  highest  of- 
fices in  the  state,  the  tribunate  of  the  Celeres,  and  could 
therefore  convene  assemblies  and  exercise  sacerdotal  func- 
tions !  His  name  probably  gave  occasion  to  the  tale  of  his 
idiotcy,  which  tale  knew  nothing  of  his  office,  and  the  an- 
nalists, as  usual,  heedlessly  combined  the  two  accounts. 

The  narrative  of  the  taking  of  Gabii  is  evidently  made 
up  from  two  stories  in    Herodotus,^   arid  is  quite  irrecon- 


*  Sforza,  from  a  leader  of  mercenaries,  became  duke  of  Milan  by 
marrying  the  daughter  of  the  last  of  the  Visconti. 

t  Niebuhr  is  certainly  perplexed  about  the  Tuscan  dominion  at 
Rome,  especially  as  he  rejects  the  Tuscan  origin  of  the  Tarquinii. 
Mailer  (i.  118 — 123)  thinks  tha:t  at  a  time  when  the  city  of  Tarquinii 
had  extended  her  supremacy  over  all  Etruria,  she  also  ruled  over 
Rome  and  a  part  of  Latium.  Hence  he  explains  the  walls,  sewers, 
Capitoline  temple,  built  on  the  Tuscan  scale  of  magnitude,  and  the 
Grecian  games,  &c.,  for  Tarquinii  was  intimately  connected  with 
Corinth.  Mastarna,  at  the  head  of  an  army  from  Volsinii,  the  enemy 
of  Tarquinii,  conqueredRome,  and  gave  it  a  new  constitution  ;  but  his 
government  was  overthrown  by  the  Tarquinians,  and  finally  Lars  Por- 
senna  of  Clusium  put  an  end  to  the  dominion  of  Tarquinii,  conquering 
Rome  among  other  places  belonging  to  her.  This  writer,  therefore, 
supposes  the  Tuscan  dominion  at  Rome  to  have  lasted  a  century. 
After  all,  we  may  ask,  is  there  any  absolute  necessity  for  supposing  it 
at  all  ? 

t  That  of  Zopyrus,  (iii.  154,)  and  the  counsel  given  to  Periander  by 
Thrasybulus,  (v.  92.)  A  Spanish  abbot  gave  the  same  counsel  to 
Ramirez  king  of  Arragon,  (Mariana,  x.  16,)  and  Pope  John  VIII.  gave 
it  to  Charles  the  Bald,  of  France,  and  Theodoric,  count  of  Holland. 
(Scriverius  Batavia  Vetus.)  The  pope  and  abbot  had  no  doubt  reaci 
Livy. 


^ 


44  HISTORY    OF    ROME. 

cilable  with  the  fact  of  the  treaty  with  that  town  which  ex- 
isted even  in  the  time  of  Augustus,  written  on  a  bull's-hide 
stretched  on  a  shield.  In  like  manner,  the  war  with  Ardea 
must  be  a  baseless  fiction;  for,'  as  will  appear,  it  was  at 
the  time  of  the  expulsion  a  Latin  town  subject  to  Rome. 
The  tale  of  Lucretia  may  or  may  not  be  a  fiction ;  but  the 
oath  of  the  four  Romans  is  plainly  symbolical  of  the  union 
between  the  three  Patrician  tribes  and  the  Plebs  against  the 
tyrant;  Lucretius  being  a  Ramnes,  Valerius  a  Titiensis, 
Collatinus  a  Lucer,  and  Brutus  a  Plebeian.*     The  consulate 

i  of  Collatinus,  a  Tarquinius,  looks  like  a  compromise  with 
the  powerful  house  to  which  he  belonged,  allowing  that  one 
of  them,  to  be  chosen  by  the  people,  should  share  in  the 
supreme  power:  but  the  whole  house  was  banished  shortly 
afterwards.f 

Of  the  war  with  Porsenna,  not  a  single  incident  can  be 
regarded  as  a  portion  of  real  history ,  Porsenna  himself  was 
a  mythic  hero  of  Etruria,  probably  belonging  to  the  ante- 
historic  times,  possibly  connected  in  the  Roman  tradition 
with  the  war  in  which  Rome  fell  before  the  Tuscan  arms. 
For  Rome  actually  had  to  surrender  to  a  Tuscan  power,  to 
give  back  all  the  lands  beyond  the  Tiber,  and  her  citizens 
were  prohibited  the  use  of  iron  except  for  agricultural  pur- 
poses.|  But  when  the  Tuscans  were  defeated  before  Aricia, 
the  Romans  rose  and  recovered  their  independence,  but  not 
the  ceded  lands.  Then  it  may  have  been  that  propeity  be- 
longing to  the  Tuscan  lord  in  the  city  was  sold  by  auction, 

^'hich  may  have  given  rise  to  the  symbolic  custom  of  selling 
the  goods. of  King  Porsenna, 

The  battle  of  the  Regillus  is  thoroughly  Homeric,  with 
its  single  combats  of  heroes,  and  gods  sharing  openly  in  it. 
It  closes  the  Lay  of  the  Tarquins ;  §  the  whole  generation 

.  who  had  been  warring  with  each  other  ^ince  the  crime  of 
Sextus  II  perish  in  it ;  "  the  manes  of  Lucretia  are  appeased, 
and  the  men  of  the  heroic  age  depart  out  of  the  world,  be- 


*  The  Jonii  were  always  a  plebeian  house.  Niebuhr  (iii.  41,  Ger- 
man) would  seem  to  have  regarded  Brutus  as  the  tribune  of  the  ple- 
beian knights. 

t  The  story  of  the  slave  Vindicius  is  a  fiction,  to  give  a  historical 
origin  to  the  custom  of  emancipating  slaves  by  the  Vindicta. 

f  Tacitus,  Hist.  iii.  72.     Pliny,  H.  N.  xxxiv.  39. 

§  So  Niebuhr  names  it  after  the  Mbelungen  Lied,  i.  e.  Lay  of  the 
Nibelungs,  a  celebrated  German  poem. 

II  According  to  one  account  Seztus  was  killed  in  this  battle. 


THE    ROMAN    CONSTITUTION.  45 

fore  injustice  begins  to  domineer,  and  gives  birth  to  insur- 
rection in  the  state  which  they  had  delivered." 


CHAPTER  V. 


THE    ORIGIN    AND    PROGRESS     OF     THE     ROMAN    CONSTITUTION 
ACCORDING   TO    NIEBUHR. 

In  the  preceding  chapter  we  have  given  a  sketch  of 
Niebuhr's  views  of  the  history  of  Rome  in  the  regal  period. 
We  now  proceed  to  give  some  of  his  ideas  on  the  origin  and 
development  of  the  constitution  during  the  same  time. 

No  institution  in  ancient  times  was  more  general  than 
that  of  the  division  of  a  people  into  tribes.*  These  were 
either  genealogical  or  local ;  the  former  were  the  more  an- 
cient kind,  and  mostly  arose  from  a  difference  of  origin  ante- 
cedent to  their  political  union.  These  tribes  were  divided 
into  a  certain  number  of  Houses,  (Gentes,)  each  of  which 
again  was  composed  of  a  greater  or  lesser  number  of  Fami- 
lies, {Famili(S.)  The  territory  of  the  state  was  divided 
among  the  tribes,  and  thus  the  genealogic  tribes  must  have 
been  local  ones  also  at  the  time  of  their  formation  :  but  this 
local  position  was  not  their  bond  of  union. 

To  apply  this  principle  to  Rome.  When  Roma  and  Q,ui- 
rium  united,  their  inhabitants,  under  the  name  of  Ramnes 
and  Titienses,  formed  two  tribes,  equal  in  all  respects,  save 
that  the  former  had  the  precedence  in  rank ;  the  third  tribe 
(for  there  must  have  been  three)t  was  the  Luceres,  who,  as 
previously  subordinate  to  the  Romans,  were  not  yet  placed 
on  an  equality  with  the  former  two.  This  inferiority  of  the 
Luceres  is  proved  by  the  circumstance  of  the  original  number 
of  the  Vestals,  the  Pontiffs,  the  Flamens,  and  the  Augurs 


*  For  both  Sparta  and  Athens  see  History  of  Greece,  Part  I.  c.  v. 
and  vii. 

t  The  word  tribus,  equivalent  to  the  Greek  phyle,  evidently  comes 
from  tres,  and,  like  the  Attic  TQirrvg,  indicated  the  original  number  of 
the  tribes  of  Rome.  In  like  manner  century  originally  indicated  100 
{centum)  houses  or  individuals.  They  both  became  in  the  course  of 
time  mere  terms  of  division,  and  we  read  of  20,  21,  30,  35  tribes,  and 
centuries  of  even  30  persons. 


46»  HISTORY   OF   ROME. 

being  four,  two  for  each  of  the  superior  tribes,  and  by  other 
similar  divisions  in  the  state.  Hence  the  members  of  the 
first  two  tribes  were  called  those  of  the  Greater  Houses, 
(Majorum  Gentium,)  —  those  of  the  latter,  of  the  Lesser 
Houses,  {Minorum  Gentium.)* 

Each  tribe  was  divided  into  ten  Curies,  (Curia,)  and  each 
Cury  contained  ten  Houses,  (Gentes.)  Each  tribe  was  pre- 
sided over  by  its  Tribune  (Tribunus)  who  was  its  leader  in 
the  field,  its  priest  and  magistrate  at  home.  Each  Cury  had 
in  like  manner  its  Curion,  (Curio,)  whose  title  in  the  field 
was  Centurion,  as  he  commanded  a  hundred  (centum)  men 
in  the  original  Roman  army. 

The  members  of  a  house,  though  bearing  the  same  name, 
are  not  to  be  regarded  as  kinsmen. t  Their  union  was 
solely  a  political  one ;  it  was  kept  up  by  common  sacred 
rites,  at  stated  times  and  places,  to  the  expense  of  which 
all  its  members  contributed.  Tne  Gentiles  (i.  e.  the  mem- 
bers of  the  house  or  gens)  were  bound  to  aid  one  another 
in  paying  fines,  ransoms,  etc. ;  and  if  a  man  died  without 
kin  and  intestate,  his  property  went  to  his  Gentiles.  These 
members  of  the  houses  of  the  three  tribes  formed  the 
burghers  or  original  citizens  of  Rome.  Their  common 
names  seems  to  have  been  Celeres :  f  they  were  also  called 
Patres,  Patroni  and  Patricians,  from  the  following  cause. 

The  states  of  antiquity  were  extremely  jealous  of  their 
civic  rights,  and  slow  to  communicate  them  to  strangers; 
there  moreover  was  not  in  them  that  equal  law  for  the  cit- 
izen and  the  stranger,  to  which  we  are  accustomed.  When 
therefore  for  the  sake  of  trade,  or  from  some  other  cause, 
a  man  wished  to  settle  in  a  town  which  was  at  amity  or  in 
a  federal  relation  with  his  native  place,  he  was  obliged  to 
choose  some  citizen  of  his  new  abode  as  his  legal  protector 
and  guardian.  In  Greece  a  sojourner  of  this  kind  was 
named  a  Metoec,  at  Rome  he  was  called  a  Client ;  the  me- 
tCBc  relation  however  might  be  dissolved  at  will,  that  of 
clientship  descended  to  the  posterity  of  the  first  client. 
The  relative  term  to  client  was  patron,  with  which  Pater 

*  The  equestrian  centuries  of  Tarquinius,  or  the  Conscripti  of  Brutus, 
were  thought  by  some  to  be  the  Lesser  Houses. 

f  Thus  the  Lentuli  and  the  Scipiones  were  both  of  the  house  of 
the  Comelii,  but  they  were  never  regarded  as  kinsmen. 

t  Celer  seems  to  be  akin  to  the  Greek  y-iXriq,  a  race-hdrse  or  riding- 
horse.  The  Roman  Celeres  or  Patricians  answered  to  the  inntiq  or 
Inno^hrat  of  the  Greeks. 


THE    ROMAN    CONSTITUTION.  47 

{Father)  and  Patricius  (homo)  may  be  regarded  as  synony- 
mous, and  denoting  the  paternal  care  which  a  Roman 
buFgher  exercised  over  his  children,  servants,  and  clients. 

If  the  client  did  not  exercise  a  trade,  keep  a  shop,  or  so 
forth,  the  patron  usually  granted  him  on  his  estate,  two 
jugers  of  arable  land,  with  space  to  build  a  cottage  on, 
which  he  held  as  tenant  at  will.  The  patron  was  bound  to 
relieve  his  client  when  in  distress,  to  expound  to  him  the 
law,  both  civil  and  religious,  and  to  appear  for  him  in  courts 
of  justice.*  The  client  on  his  side  was  to  be  obedient  to  his 
patron,  to  aid  him  in  paying  fines  to  the  state,  and  in  bear- 
ing public  burdens,  to  contribute  to  ransom  him  if  made  a 
prisoner,  and  to  help  to  make  up  the  marriage-portion  of  his 
daughters.  Altogether  this  relation  has  a  striking  similar- 
ity to  that  of  lord  and  vassal  in  the  feudal  times,  which  in 
all  probability  was  derived  from  it. 

The  Patricians  or  burghers  formed  the  general  assembly 
or  Populus.f  They  met  on  the  place  called  the  Comitium, 
and  they  voted  by  curies,  whence  the  assembly  was  named 
Comitia  Curidta.  The  votes  taken  in  the  curies  were  those 
of  the  houses,  not  of  individuals. 

No  state  in  antiquity  was  without  its  senate ;  that  of 
Rome  was  composed  of  representatives,  one  for  each  of  the 
houses,  and  consequently  contained  at  first  100,  then  200, 
and  finally  300  members.  It  was  divided  into  decuries, 
corresponding  to  the  number  of  the  curies,  and  therefore 
gradually  increasing  in  number  from  ten  to  thirty.  The 
Ramnes  had  the  superiority  in  the  senate  also ;  ten  persons, 
one  from  each  of  their  decuries,  were  named  the  Ten  First 
{Decern  primi)  of  the  senate.  On  the  death  of  a  king,  these 
ten  formed  a  board,  each  member  of  which  enjoyed  for  five 

"  Hence  lawyers  still  call  those  who  employ  them  their  clients. 

t  The  following  passages  of  Livy  prove  that  the  populus  was  distinct 
from  the  plebs.  "  A  plebe,  consensu  populi,  consulibus  negotium 
mandatur,"  iv.  51.  "  Non  populi  sed  pubis  magistratum,"  ii.  56. 
"  Prffitor  is  qui  populo  plebique  jus  dabit  summum,"  xxv.  12.  In 
Cicero's  Epistles  we  meet  the  following  superscriptions,  (Ad  Divers,  x. 
8:)  Plancus  IMP.  cons.  des.  s.  d.  coss.  pr.  trie.  pleb.  sen.  pop. 
PL.  Q.  R.,  and  (Id.  x.  35)  Lepidus  imp.  iter.  pont.  max.  s.  d.  senat. 
POP.  PL.  q,.  R.  Fabius  and  Dion  Cassius,  as  appears  from  Diodorus 
and  Zonaras,  used  Srjuoc  for  populus,  nXij^og  for  plebs.  See  Niebiihr,  i. 
417,  and  ii.  168,  note.  We  think,  that  these  passages  are  quite  demon- 
strative on  the  subject.  It  is  impossible  to  explain  them  on  the  theory 
of  the  populus  being  the  whole,  the  plebs  a  part  of  the  people.  See 
also  Cic.  Muren.  1.  Verres,  v.  14.  Ad.  Divers,  viii.  8.  Dion.  lii.  20., 
liii.  21.,lv.  34. 


48  BISTORT   OF    ROME. 

days,  as  Interrex,  (Between-king,)  the  royal  power  and  dig- 
nity. If  at  the  end  of  fifty  days  no  king  was  elected,  the 
rotation  of  Interrexes  commenced  anew. 

When  the  King  (Rex)  was  to  be  elected,  the  senate  agreed 
among  themselves  on  the  person  whom  the  Interrex  should 
propose  to  the  curies.  If  they  accepted  him,  the  sanction 
of  the  gods  was  sought  by  augury,  and  the  signs  being  fa- 
vorable, the  new  king  had  himself  to  propose  a  law  for 
investing  him  with  the  full  regal  power  (imperium)  to  the 
curies  who  might  then  if  they  pleased  annul  their  former 
decision.*  It  was  probably  thought,  that  in  a  matter  of 
such  importance  it  was  prudent  to  deliberate  twice,  or,  like 
the  Athenian  magistrates,  the  Roman  king  may  have  had 
to  undergo  a  Dokimasy,t  or  scrutiny. 

The  regal  office  at  Rome  very  much  resembled  that  of 
the  heroic  ages  in  Greece,  but  it  differed  from  it  in  being 
elective,  not  hereditary.  The  king  had  the  absolute  com- 
mand of  the  army  ;,  he  offered  the  sacrifices  for  the  nation; 
he  convoked  the  senate  and  people,  and  laid  laws  before 
them  ;  he  could  punish  by  fines  and  corporal  penalties,  but 
an  appeal  from  his  sentence  lay  for  the  citizens  (that  is,  the 
patricians,)  to  the  assembly  of  the  curies ;  his  power  over 
sojourners  and  others  not  belonging  to  the  houses  was  un- 
limited. The  king  moreover  sat  every  ninth  day,  and  ad- 
ministered justice  himself  or  assigned  a  judge.  He  could 
dispose  of  the  booty  and  the  land  acquired  in  war,  and  a 
large  portion  of  the  conquered  territory  belonged  to  the 
crown,  which  was  cultivated  by  the  king's  clients,  and 
yielded  him  a  large  revenue. 

Such  was  the  constitution  of  Rome  in  the  period  desig- 
nated by  the  first  three  kings.  With  Ancus  the  state  re- 
ceived a  new  element,  the  Plebes,  or  Plebs. 

In  every  state  regulated  on  the  principle  of  houses,  there 
naturally  grows  up  a  Demos,  Plebs,  or  commonalty,  the 
members  of  which  are  free,  under  the  protection  of  the  law, 
may  acquire  real  property,  make  by-laws  for  themselves,  but 
though  bound  to  serve  in  war,  are  excluded  from  the 
government.^  This  commonalty  is  composed  of  various 
elements,   and   in   some   cases,   as   at  Athens,  it  acquired 

*  Cicero  de  Rep.  ii.  13, 17, 18,20,  21.  For  the  general  principle  of 
a  double  election  of  magistrates  see  Cicero,  Rullus  ii.  11. 

t  History  of  Greece,  p.  65. 

t  Compare  the  Pericecians  of  Laconia  and  the  Demos  of  Attica 
before  the  time  of  Solon. 


THE    ROMAN    CONSTITUTION.  49 

such  a  preponderance  of  strength  as  to  draw  all  political 
power  to  itself,  and  thus  convert  the  state  into  a  democracy. 
Bat  destiny  favored  Rome  in  this  respect ;  for  though  her 
Plebs  was  the  most  respectable  commonalty  that  ever  ex- 
isted, the  Populus  always  had  sufficient  strength  to  balance 
it,  and  thus  the  development  of  the  constitution  was  grad- 
ual and  beneficent.* 

The  Roman  Plebs  was  thus  formed.  In  the  period  which 
we  have  just  described,  there  was  probably  at  Rome  some 
kind  of  a  commonalty,  consisting  of  emancipated  clients 
and  of  persons  who  had  not  entered  into  the  client-relation, 
but  it  was  of  no  account.  When,  however,  on  the  destruc- 
tion of  Alba,  a  division  of  conquests  and  a  new  arrangement 
of  territory  took  place  between  the  Romans  and  the  Latins, 
the  Plebs,  which  had  been  already  augmented  by  the  inhabi- 
tants of  those  Latin  towns  which  had  been  conquered  before 
that  time,  now  received  a  great  accession  to  its  body.  King 
Ancus  assigned  the  Aventine  for  the  abode  of  such  of  the 
Latins  as  chose  to  remove  to  Rome,  and  it  became  the  site 
of  the  plebeian  city.t  The  greater  part  of  the  Plebs,  how- 
ever, who  were  mostly  land-owners,  staid  on  their  lands 
away  from  Rome.  It  was,  moreover,  the  Italian  law  of 
nations,  that  when  a  town  was  taken  or  surrendered,  its 
territory  fell  to  the  conqueror :  the  Roman  kings  had  always 
reassigned  a  part  of  it  to  the  old  possessors,  and  the  Plebs 
therefore  contained  all  the  people,  gentle  and  simple,  of  such 
Latin  towns  as  fell  to  Rome  :  many  of  its  members  might 
consequently  vie  with  the  patricians  in  nobleness  of  descent, 
and  equalled  them  in  wealth ;  though  the  jealousy  of  these 
last  would  not  allow  them  to  intermarry  with  them,  and  most 
legal  relations  were  to  the  disadvantage  of  the  plebeians. 

The  Romulian  constitution,  which  we  have  been  descri- 
bing, received  its  complete  development  by  the  calling  up 
of  the  Luceres  into  the  senate,  but  the  time  when  this  oc- 
curred is  uncertain.  The  great  change  of  this  constitution 
commenced  with  Tarquinius  Priscus  in  the  following  man- 
ner. 

It  is  the  nature  of  an  exclusive  aristocracy  to  diminish 
with  great  rapidity,  and  eventually  to  die  away,  if  it  refuses 


*  The  real  cause  of  this  difference  was  probably  that  the  Romans 
were  an  agricultural,  the  Athenians  a  trading  people. 

t  The  Aventine  was  Tiot  included   within  the   walls  of  Servius 
Tiillius  :  the  plans  of  Rome  which  so  represent  it  are  wrong. 
6  Q 


50  HISTORY    OF    ROME. 

to  replace  the  houses  which  become  extinct.  Such  appears 
to  have  been  the  case  with  that  of  Rome  at  this  time ;  the 
curies  did  not  on  an  average  contain  more  than  five  houses 
apiece.  Tarquiuius  therefore  proposed  to  form  three  new 
tribes  of  houses  out  of  his  own  retainers  and  the  plebeians, 
and  to  name  them  from  himself  and  his  friends.  As  this 
would  be  making  six  instead  of  three  tribes,  and  thus  be  al- 
tering the  form  of  the  constitution,  the  augur  Navius  was 
put  forward  to  oppose  it,  and  even  Heaven,  as  we  have  seen, 
called  to  aid.  It  would  appear  that  a  compromise  was  ef- 
fected between  the  king  and  the  patricians,  as  he  in  reality 
did  what  he  proposed,  for  he  doubled  the  number  of  the 
houses,  but  left  that  of  the  tribes  untouched ;  each  tribe 
therefore  now  consisted  of  two  parts  or  centuries. 

The  Plebs,  meantime,  advanced  daily  in  numbers,  wealth, 
and  power  by  the  various  accessions  which  it  received. 
The  legislator  whom  we  name  Servius  Tullius  saw  the 
advantage  of  giving  it  more  organization  than  it  had  yet 
obtained,  and  he  accordingly  divided  it  into  local  tribes. 
The  number  of  these  tribes  was  thirty,  answering  to  that 
of  the  patrician  curies  and  of  the  Latin  towns ;  four  of 
them  were  civic  or  in  the  city,  the  remaining  twenty-six 
were  rural ;  of  these,  ten  lay  beyond  the  Tiber  in  Etruria. 
These  tribes  being  local,  each  had  its  separate  region,  which 
bore  the  same  name  with  itself.  Each  tribe  had  its  tribune, 
who  was  its  captain  in  war,  its  chief  magistrate  in  peace ; 
he  apportioned  the  tax  (fributum*)  which  the  tribe  had  to 
pay  among  the  tribesmen,  {tributes,)  regulated  their  con- 
tingent in  the  army,  and  inspected  the  condition  of  every 
family.  The  plebeian  tribes  when  met  in  assembly  elected 
their  tribunes  and  other  magistrates,  made  laws  for  their 
own  regulation,  imposed  rates  for  common  objects,  etc. 

Rome  now  consisted  of  two  united  but  distinct  peoples, 
governed  by  one  prince,  with  a  common  public  interest,  but 
yet  without  even  the  right  of  intermarriage.  These  were 
the  Populus  or  burghers,  and  the  Plebs  or  commonalty  ; 
equally  free,  but  with  the  advantage  in  point  of  honor  on 
the  side  of  the  former.t     But  the  legislator  saw  danger  in 

*  Trilmtum  comes  from  tribus,  not  the  reverse. 

t  The  assemblies  (f amiiia)  of  the  Populus  were  held  onthe'Comi- 
tium,  those  of  the  Plebs  in  the  Forum  ;  the  Rostra,  a  long  stage  from 
which  the  magistrates  spoke  in  public,  separated  these  two  places, 
which  lay  on  tne  same  level,  and  which  were,  in  common  use,  in- 
cluded under  the  name  Forum. 


THE    ROMAN    CONSTITUTION. 


51 


this  separation,  and  he  sought  to  obviate  it  by  an  institution 
in  which  both  should  be  comprised,  and  by  which  birth  and 
wealth  should  have  their  due  and  full  influence  in  the  state. 
This  he  proposed  to  effect  by  arranging  the  whole  popula- 
tion in  Classes,  subdivided  into  Centuries.  The  form  in 
which  we  must  conceive  the  people  in  this  arrangement  is 
that  of  an  Army,  (Ezercitus,)  as  it  was  called,  composed 
of  cavalry,  infantry,  artillery,  and  its  baggage-train,  and  it 
met  on  the  Campus  Martius  without  the  city. 

The  three  original  tribes  or  centuries  of  Romulus,  with 
the  three  of  Tarquinius,  contained  all  the  patricians  without 
distinction  of  property  :  they  were  named  the  Six  Suffrages, 
{Sex  Suffragia.)  To  these  Servius  added  twelve  centuries 
of  plebeian  notables,  or  men  of  superior  wealth,  a  kind  of 
plebeian  nobility,  whose  honors  descended  to  their  posterity  ; 
these  centuries  were  open  ;  any  plebeian  might  be  raised  to 
them.  The  eighteen  centuries,  under  the  name  of  Knights 
or  Horsemen,  {Equites,)  formed  the  cavalry  of  the  Roman 
army.  If  any  member  of  them  was  so  reduced  in  circum- 
stances as  not  to  be  able  to  purchase  a  war-horse  for  himself, 
and  a  slave  and  horse  to  attend  and  follow  him  to  the  field, 
the  state  assigned  him  a  sum  of  10,000  asses  for  that  pur- 
pose, and  for  their  maintenance  an  annual  rent-charge  of 
2000  asses  on  the  estates  of  single  women  and  orphans,  who 
were  thus  made  to  contribute  to  the  defence  of  the  state 
which  gave  them  protection.  If  a  knight  was  degraded,  as 
sometimes  occurred,  his  horse  was  sold  to  reimburse  the 
state,  and  his  pension  was  assigned  to  another. 

After  the  eighteen  equestrian  Centuries  came  the  infan- 
try, composed  entirely  of  plebeians,  arranged  in  five  Classes 
in  the  order  of  their  property,  and  armed  in  the  same  pro- 
portion, as  the  following  table  will  show  : 


Cla88 


Property. 


Centuries. 


Arms. 
Helmet. 
Shield. 
Corselet. 
Greaves. 
Sword. 
Spear. 
Helmet. 
Shield. 

II.      75,000  asses  and  upwards.      10  of  old,  10  of  young  men  =  20.i[  Greaves. 

I  Sword. 
[  Spear. 
2Q  (  Helmet,  shield. 
\  Sword,  spear. 
10  of  old,  10  of  young  men  =  20    Spear  and  dart. 
15  ofold,  15  of  young  men  =  30    Slings. 

170 


I.    100,000  asses  and  upwards.      40  ofold,  40  of  young  men 


III.  50,000  asses  and  upwards.      10  ofold,  10  of  young  men  : 

IV.  25,000  asses  and  upwards. 
V.      12,500  asses  and  upwards. 


52  HISTORY    OF   ROME. 

Those  whose  property  was  under  12,500  asses  were  ar- 
ranged in  centuries  out  of  the  classes.  Of  these  centuries 
there  were  four,  as  will  thus  appear.  All  in  the  centuries 
taken  together  were  divided  into  Asssiduan  or  Locupletes 
and  Proletarians,  the  former  containing  all  down  to  those 
who  had  1500  asses,  the  latter  those  who  had  less  than  that 
sum.  Now  the  Assiduans  below  the  classes  were  divided 
into  Accensi,  or  those  who  had  from  7000  to  12,500  asses, 
and  Velati,  who  had  from  1500  to  7000 ;  and  the  Pro- 
letarians were  again  divided  into  Proletarians,  or  those  who 
had  from  375  to  1500  asses,  and  Capite  Censi,  or  those  who 
had  less  than  375  asses,  thus  making  four  in  all.  The  cor- 
porations of  carpenters,  {fahri,)  trumpeters,  (Uticenes,)  and 
horn-blowers,  (comicines,)  formed  three  centuries,  of  whicjh 
the  first  stood  and  voted  with  the  first  class,  the  last  two 
with  the  fifth.  The  entire  number  of  centuries  therefore 
was  195,*  viz. 

Equestrian 18 

Classes 170 

Assiduans 2 

Proletarians 2 

Mechanists 3 

"l95 

When  the  centuries  were  assembled  on  the  Field  of  Mars, 
their  place  of  meeting,  they  voted  on  elections,  laws,  or  any 
other  matters  previously  prepared  in  the  senate.  Their 
power  to  reject  was  absolute,  but  their  assent  required  to  be 
confirmed  by  the  patricians  in  their  curies.  They  voted  in 
the  following  order.  The  Six  Suffrages ;  the  Plebeian  eques- 
trian centuries ;  the  first  class,  and  the  carpenters ;  the  re- 
maining classes;  the  two  centuries  of  musicians;  the  Ac- 
censi ;  the  Velati ;  the  Proletarians ;  the  Capite  Censi.  If 
the  first  three  divisions  were  unanimous,  it  was  needless  to 
call  up  the  remainder  ;  for,  as  we  may  see,  they  formed  a  ma- 
jority of  99  to  96  of  the  whole.  Hence  the  design  of  the 
legislator  is  apparent ;  he  aimed  at  forming  a  mingled  aris- 
tocracy and  timocracy,t  by  placing  the  political  power  in 
the  hands  of  the  noble  and  the  wealthy,|  and  to  stave  off" 

*  This  view  depends  on  Niebuhr's  (vol.  i.  p.  444)  emendation  of  a 
passage  in  Cicero  de  Republica. 

t  The  timocracy  of  Solon  (Hist,  of  Greece,  P.  I.  c.  vii.)  was  quite 
different  from  this.  It  related  solely  to  eligibility  to  office,  this  of  Ser- 
vius  to  elections. 

X  «  Curavit,  ncpUarimum  taleamt pltaimi.*'    (Cicero  de  Rep/  iii  20.) 


THE    ROMAN    CONSTITUTION.  &3 

the  evils  of  democracy,  while  at  the  same  time  all  should  be 
content,  no  one  being  without  a  place  in  the  constitution. 

This  principle  of  giving  influence  to  the  minority  was 
also  attended  to  in  the  division  of  the  classes  into  centuries 
of  old  men  and  young  men.  The  former  contained  those 
who  were  past  forty-five  years,  and  calculations  show  that 
their  number  could  not  have  been  more  than  one  half  of 
that  of  the  latter;  yet,  as  we  see,  the  number  of  their  cen- 
turies, and  therefore  of  their  votes,  was  equal. 

We  must  not  let  ourselves  be  misled  by  the  word  century ^ 
and  suppose  that  because  the  first  class  had  four  times  as 
many  centuries  as  the  second,  it  therefore  contained  four 
times  the  number  of  individuals.  The  real  fact  was,  it 
had  four  times  as  many  votes;  it  being  the  legislator's 
design  that  the  votes  of  each  class  should  be  to  those  of  the 
whole  five,  as  the  taxable  property  of  that  class  was  to  that 
of  the  five,  and  consequently  the  number  of  citizens  in  each 
be  in  inverse  proportion  to  the  sums  designating  their 
property;  therefore  as 

100,000 


75,000  : 

:  4 

3 

50,000  : 

:  6 

3 

25,000  : 

:  12 

3 

12,500  : 

:  24 

3 

Three  of  the  first  must  have  had  as  much  property  as  four 
of  the  second,  six  of  the  third,  and  so  on;  while  the  centu- 
ries of  the  third,  for  instance,  must  have  contained  twice, 
those  of  the  fifth  eight  times,  as  many  citizens  as  those  of 
the  first.  In  like  manner,  the  property  of  each  of  the  three 
classes  following  the  first  must  have  been  a  fourth,  that  of 
the  fifth  three  eighths,  of  its  property.*  Multiplying,  then, 
the  centuries  by  the  relative  numbers  of  the  properties  of 
the  classes,  we  find 

80  X    3  =  240  J  re 

20  X     6  -  120  >  °^  '^^^^^^"g  ^y  '^^'  ^^^''  I    3 
<6u  A     u  —  axsu  ^        common  measure,        )     7, 


20  X  12  =  240 
30  X  24  =  720 


35 


So  that  of  thirty-five  citizens,  six  were  in  the  first  class,  and 
had  more  influence  in  the  state  than  the  remaining  twenty- 

*  For  80, 20, 20,  20, 30,  (the  numbers  of  the  centuries,)  ate  to  each 
other  as  1,  4,  i,  4,  §. 
5  * 


54  BISTORT   OF   ROME. 

nine ;  the  number  of  citizens  in  the  second  class  was  a  third 
of  those  in  the  first ;  that  of  the  third  a  half,  and  so  on.  If 
then,  as  there  is  reason  to  suppose,  the  first  class  contained 
6000  citizens,  the  whole  five  contained  35,000  —  the  number 
of  plebeians  (exclusive  of  the  knights)  possessing  property 
above  12,500  asses. 

As  we  have  above  observed,  the  Centuries,  when  assem- 
bled on  the  Field  of  Mars,  formed  an  army ;  the  eighteen 
equestrian  centuries  were  the  cavalry ;  the  Classes  the  in- 
fantry ;  the  Proletarians  the  baggage  train ;  there  were  also 
the  artillerists  {fabri)  and  the  musicians.  The  first  class 
usually  sent  forty  centuries  of  thirty  men  each,  (one  from 
each  tribe,)  or  1200  men,  to  the  field  ;  the  second  and  third 
together  gave  the  same  number,  as  did  also  the  fourth  and 
fifth ;  making  a  total  of  one  hundred  and  twenty  centuries, 
or  3600  men,  consisting  of  three  divisions  of  1200  men  each, 
one  of  hoplites  or  men  in  full  armor,  one  of  men  in  half  ar- 
mor, and  one  of  light  troops.  This  body,  named  a  Legion,* 
was  drawn  up  in  phalanx  after  the  manner  of  the  Greeks, 
each  century  composed  of  the  first  two  divisions  being 
drawn  up  three  in  front  and  ten  deep,  the  men  of  the  first 
class  forming  the  first  five  ranks ;  whence  we  see  why  the 
quantity  of  armor  was  diminished  as  the  classes  descended, 
those  who  stood  behind  being  covered  by  the  bodies  and 
armor  of  those  in  front.  The  light  troops,  forming  what 
was  called  a  caterva,  stood  apart  from  the  phalanx.  The 
Accensi  stood  apart  from  both ;  it  was  their  duty  to  take 
the  arms  and  places  of  the  killed  or  wounded,  and  as  in 
such  cases  the  man  immediately  behind  stepped  into  the 
gap,  and  he  was  succeeded  by  the  man  behind  him,  the 
places  of  the  Accensi  were  always  in  the  rear,  where  they 
acted  merely  mechanically  in  giving  weight  and  consistency 
to  the  mass. 

In  this  system,  therefore,  men  had  to  encounter  danger  in 
exact  proportion  to  the  stake  they  had  in  the  state,  and  to  the 
political  advantages  which  they  enjoyed;  for  the  knights 
also  purchased  their  precedence  by  being  exposed  to  greater 
danger,  as  they  were  badly  equipped,  and  riding  without 
stirrups  were  easily  unhorsed  and  disarmed,  and  were  ex- 
posed to  the  missiles  of  the  enemy's  light  troops. ' 

*  From  leffo,  to  select.  We  are  not  to  suppose  that  one  legion 
formed  the  Afekole  army.  This  was  only  the  rule  by  which  the  legions 
were  raised. 


THE    ROMAN    CONSTITUTION.  55 

Another  part  of  this  legislation  was  the  establishment  of 
a  regular  system  of  taxation  by  the  Census.  Every  citizen 
was  bound  to  give  an  honest  return  of  the  number  of  his 
family,  and  of  his  taxable  property.  A  registry  of  births 
was  kept  in  the  temple  of  Lucina,  one  of  deaths  in  that  of 
Libitina ;  the  country  people  were  registered  at  the  festival 
of  the  Paganalia.  All  changes  of  abode  and  transfers  of 
property  were  to  be  notified  to  the  proper  magistrate.  The 
tribute  was  paid  by  the  Plebs ;  it  was  so  much  a  thousand 
on  the  property  given  in  at  the  census,  varying  according 
to  the  exigencies  of  the  state,  but  unfair,  inasmuch  as  debts 
were  not  deducted  from  the  capital,  so  that  a  man  paid  in 
proportion  to  his  nominal,  not  his  actual  property.  This 
property  consisted  of  lands,  houses,  slaves,  cattle,  money, 
and  every  other  object  of  what  was  called  duiritary  prop- 
erty, or  res  mancipii.  None  but  Assiduans  were  thus  taxed ; 
the  Proletarians  were  exempt  from  taxes.  Sojourners  arwi 
others,  who  were  not  in  the  Classes  or  Centuries,  paid,  under 
the  name  of  iErarians,  such  arbitrary  sums  as  the  state 
imposed  for  licenses  to  carry  on  trades,  etc.  The  patricians 
paid,  like  the  plebeians,  for  their  property  of  the  same  kind 
with  theirs,  and  they  yielded  the  state  a  tithe  of  the  prod- 
uce of  the  public  lands,  which  they  held  exclusively  as 
tenants. 

Though  Servius  thus  gave  form  and  consistency  to  the 
revenue,  we  are  not  to  suppose  that  most  if  not  all  of  these 
taxes  did  not  exist  before  his  time ;  there  were  these  and 
port-duties  and  other  charges,  from  which  and  the  manubics, 
or  spoils  of  war,  the  kings  derived  a  large  revenue,  as  is 
proved  by  the  great  works  which  they  executed.  These 
works  were  the  Capitoline  temple,  with  its  huge  substruc- 
tions, the  sewers  and  the  city  wall.  Gf  the  first  we  have 
already  spoken :  the  Cloaca  Maxima,  or  great  sewer,  which 
still  exists,  is  composed  of  three  vaults  within  one  another, 
all  formed  of  hewn  blocks  of  the  stone  named  peperino,  each 
7 1  Roman  palms  long,  and  4^  thick,  put  together  without 
cement ;  the  innermost  vault  is  a  semicircle  eighteen  palms 
in  width  and  as  many  in  height.  Other  sewers  carried  the 
waters  of  other  parts  of  the  city  into  the  Cloaca  Maxima, 
which  opens  into  the  river  by  a  gate-like  arch  in  a  quay  ; 
which  quay,  being  of  the  same  style  of  architecture,  is  evi- 
dently coeval  with  it.  The  wall  of  Servius,  from  the  Col- 
line  to  the  Esquiline  gate,  a  distance  of  nearly  a  mile, 
was  the  third  great  work  of  the  kings.     This  consisted  of  a 


66  HISTORY   OF    ROME. 

mound  of  clay,  (for  there  is  no  stone  here,)  50  feet  wide  and 
60  high,  faced  with  a  skirting  of  flag-stones,  and  flanked 
with  towers.  It  was  formed  of  the  clay  raised  from  a  moat 
or  ditch  in  front  of  it,  100  feet  wide  and  30  deep.  A  similar 
wall  extended  from  the  Colline  gate  tb  the  western  steeps 
of  the  Quirinal  hill. 

These  works  plainly  prove,  that  Rome  under  her  later 
kings  was  the  capital  of  a  powerful  state.  The  greatness 
of  Rome  in  her  regal  period  is  further  shown  by  a  com- 
mercial treaty  with  Carthage,  made  in  the  first  year  of  the 
Republic*  In  this  treaty  Rome  stipulates  for  herself  and  her 
subject  towns  Ardea,  Laurentura,  Aricia,  Antium,  Circeii, 
and  Terracina ;  and  she  also  extends  her  protecting  power  to 
the  Latins,  who  dwelt  to  the  south  of  this  last-named  place. 
This  dominion,  as  we  shall  presently  see,  she  lost  in  con- 
sequence of  her  revolution  ;  and  nearly  two  centuries  elapsed 
before  she  was  able  to  regain  it. 


*  Polybius,  iii.  22,  26.    The  consuls  named  in  it  are  Brutus  and 
Horatius. 


4l^' 


THE 


HISTORY   OF  ROME. 


PART   II.* 

THE  REPUBLIC  — CONQUEST  OF  ITALY. 


CHAPTER  L 

BEGINNING    OF     THE    REPUBLIC. THE    DICTATORSHIP. RO- 
MAN   LAW    OF    DEBT. DISTRESS  CAUSED  BY    THE    LAW    OF 

DEBT. SECESSION    TO    THE     SACRED    MOUNT. THE    TRI- 
BUNATE.  LATIN      CONSTITUTION. TREATY      WITH     THE 

LATINS. WAR     WITH     THE     VOLSCIANS. TREATY    WITH 

THE    HERNICANS. 

In  the  preceding  Part  we  have  carried  the  history  down 
beyond  the  point  at  which  the  Regal  Period  properly  speak- 
ing terminates ;  but  we  wished  to  give  the  poetic  narrative 
complete  and  separate  from  that  which  may  claim  to  be  re- 
garded as  an  approximation  to  the  truth.  We  must  now 
therefore  go  back  to  the  origin  of  the  Republic. 

Be  the  acts  recorded  of  the  last  Roman  king  true  or  false, 
there  can  be  little  doubt  that  he  was  a  tyrant  in  the  bad 
sense  of  the  word,  and  as  bad  as  the  worst  of  those  in 
Greece  and  her  colonies  at  that  period.  The  patricians 
who  aided  him  to  usurp  the  throne,  in  order  that  they 
might  deprive  the  plebeians  of  the  rights  and  liberties  se- 
cured to  them  by  the  constitution  of  Servius,  soon  felt  that 


*  Livy,  Dionysius,  (to  the  year  312,)  and  the  epitomators  Zonaras, 
Orosius,  Eutropius,  Floras,  and  Aurelius  Victor,  are  the  consecutive 
authorities  for  this  Part.  There  are  also  Plutarch's  lives  of  Poplicola, 
Coriolinus,  Camillus,  and  Pyrrhus. 

H 


58  HISTORY    of:    ROME. 

they  had  only  procured  for  themselves  a  harsh  and  cruel 
master,  and  they  gladly  joined  with  the  plebeians  to  expel 
him,  (A.  U.  244.)  A  return  was  made  to  the  constitution  of 
Servius.  In  agreement  with  the  commentaries  of  that  prince, 
two  annual  magistrates,  at  first  named  Praetors,  afterwards 
Consuls,*  possessed  of  all  the  regal  authority,  saving  only  the 
sacerdotal  functions,  were  placed  at  the  head  of  the  state ; 
and  there  is  reason  to  think  that  at  first  they  were  chosen 
one  from  each  of  the  orders.t  The  right  of  appealing  to 
their  peers,  (the  curies,)  which  the  patricians  had  always 
enjoyed,  was  extended  by  the  Valerian  law  to  the  plebeians, 
who  were  now  empowered  to  appeal  to  their  tribes.  The 
royal  demesne  lands  were  also  distributed  in  small  freeholds 
among  a  portion  of  the  more  needy  plebeians.  The  senate, 
which  had  been  greatly  reduced  by  the  cruelty  of  the  tyrant, 
was  completed  to  the  original  number  of  three  hundred  out 
of  the  plebeian  equestrian  centuries.  These  new  members 
were  named  Conscripts,  (Conscripti,)  to  distinguish  them 
from  the  Patres,  or  patrician  senators.^ 

The  loss  of  the  lands  beyond  the  Tiber,  in  consequence 
of  the  Tuscan  conquest  of  Rome,  greatly  crippled  the  state. 
Advantage  was  taken  of  this  by  the  Volscians  and  Sabines  ; 
but  if  we  credit  the  annals,  the  arms  of  Rome  met  with  uni- 
form success  against  them.  On  occasion  of  a  war  with  the 
latter  people,  (250,)  a  man  of  rank  among  them,  named 
Attus  Clausus,  being  menaced  with  impeachment  for  having 
opposed  the  war,  resolved  to  go  over  to  the  Romans.  Quit- 
ting Regillus,  where  he  abode,  he  came  with  his  gentiles 
and  clients,  to  the  number  of  five  thousand,  to  Rome,  where 
he  took  the  name  of  Appius  Claudius,  and  was  admitted 
into  the  body  of  the  patricians  ;  land  beyond  the  Anio  was 
assigned  to  his  followers,  and  they  formed  a  tribe  named 


*  Liv.  iii.  55.  Dion,  liii.  13.  Zonaras,  vii.  19.  Prcetor,  i.  e.  Pr<B- 
tfor,  which  the  Greeks  always  rendered  OT^ari^yoe,  evidently  referred 
primarily  to  military  command.  Consul  means  merely  colleague,  for, 
as  in  exul,  prccsul,  the  syllable  sul  denotes  one  tcho  is.  The  derivation 
from  consido  cannot  be  received.  [The  authority  of  Quintilian  must 
certainly  be  considered  as  superior  to  that  of  Mr.  Keightley  on  this  point. 
He  distinctly  says,  (Inst.  Orat.  I.  6,)  "  Sit  enim  Consul  a  consu- 
lendo,  vel  a  judicando ;  nam  et  hoc  consvlere  veteres  appellaverunt, 
unde  adhuc  remanet  illud,  —  Rogatj  boni  consulasy  id  est,  bonum 
judices."    J.  T.  S.] 

f  For,  as  observed  above,  Brutus  was  a  plebeian. 

t  Patres  Conscripti  is  therefore  Patres  et  Conscripti.  (Liv.  ii.  1.) 
See  above,  p.  4,  note. 


BEGINNING    OF    THE    REPUBLIC.  59 

the  Claudian.*  The  house  of  the  Claudii  is  eminent  in 
Roman  story ;  it  produced  many  an  able,  hardly  a  great, 
and  not  a  single  noble-minded  man.  Indomitable  pride  and 
opposition  to  the  rights  of  the  people  were  its  characteristic 
qualities.! 

In  the  year  253  a  new  magistracy,  named  the  Dictator- 
ship, was  instituted.  The  name,  and  perhaps  the  office,  is 
said  to  have  been  borrowed  from  the  Latins.f  The  dictator 
was  invested  with  the  full  regal  authority  for  the  space  of 
six  months;  he  was  nominated  by  the  consul  or  interrex 
on  the  direction  of  the  senate,  and  he  received  the  imperium 
from  the  curies.  He  was  preceded  by  twenty-four  lictors 
with  axes  in  the  fasces,  as  no  appeal  lay  from  his  sentence. 
The  dictator  always  nominated  an  officer,  named  the  Mas- 
ter of  the  Horse,  {Magister  Equitum,)  who  was  to  him  what 
the  tribune  of  the  Celeres  had  been  to  the  kings.§  T.  Lar- 
cius  is  said  to  have  been  the  first  dictator. 

The  dictatorship  was  ostensively  instituted  against  the 
public  enemy,  but  the  oppression  of  the  plebeians  was  its 
real  object.  It  was  a  part  of  the  plan  which  the  patricians 
had  now  formed  for  depriving  them  of  all  their  rights  and 
advantages,  and  reducing  them  to  the  condition  of  the  Etrus- 
can serfs,  and  thus,  though  its  authors  thought  not  so,  of 
depriving  Rome  of  all  chance  of  ever  becoming  great.  The 
plebeians  had  been  already  justled  out  of  the  consulate :  it 
was  proposed  to  elude  by  the  dictatorship  the  right  of  ap- 
peal given  by  the  Valerian  law,  and  reestablish  the  unlim- 
ited authority  of  the  chief  magistrate  even  within  the 
city  and  the  mile  round  it ;  and  finally,  by  a  rigorous  en- 
forcement of  the  law  of  debt,  to  reduce  them  to  actual 
slavery. 

At  Rome,  as  in  the  ancient  world  in  general,  the  law  of 

*  Niebuhr  thinks  that  as  by  the  peace  which  the  consul  Sp.  Caasiiis 
concluded  (252)  with  the  Sabines,  (Dionys.  v.  49,)  a  portion  of  territory 
was  ceded  to  Rome,  it  was  thus  that  the  Claudian  geris  and  tribe  were 
formed  in  lieu  of  the  Tarquinian,  which  had  been  broken  up.  The 
tribes  were  but  twenty  till  the  year  259,  when  the  Crustumine  was 
formed. 

t  That  is,  the  patricians  ;  the  plebeian  family  of  the  Marcelli  were 
of  a  far  better  character. 

t  That  the  Latins  had  dictators  is  quite  certain.  It  is  not  equally 
so  that  they  gave  them  such  power  as  is  here  spoken  of.  The  Romans 
probably  borrowed  only  the  name  to  avoid  that  of  rea;. 

§  "  Dictatorihus  Magistri  Equitum  injungebantur :  sic  quomodo  Regi' 
bus  Tribuni  Celerum." — Pomponius  Dig.  lib.  i.  tit.  ii..  1,  quoted  by  the 
learned  translators  of  Niebuhr's  Hist,  of  Rome,  i.  615. 


60  HISTORY   OF   ROMX. 

debt  was  extremely  severe.  It  was  to  this  effect;  a  per- 
son wishing  to  borrow  money  entered  into  a  nexum,  or  be- 
;^came  nexus,  when,  in  the  presence  of  witnesses,  under  the 
form  of  a  sale,  he  pledged  himself  and  all  belonging  to  him 
for  payment  of  a  sum  of  money  which  he  then  received. 
If  this  money  was  not  repaid  at  the  appointed  time,  the 
debtor  was  brought  before  the  praetor,  who  assigned  (addice- 
bat)  him  as  a  slave  to  his  creditor,  whence  he  was  termed 
addictus.  Such  of  the  debtor's  children  and  grandchildren 
as  were  still  under  his  authority  shared  his  fate,  and  were 
led  off  in  bonds  with  him  to  the  creditor's  work-house. 

The  rate  of  interest  was  unlimited  by  law ;  loans  were 
usually  made  for  the  year  of  ten  months,*  at  the  end  of 
which  period  if  the  principal  was  not  repaid,  the  interest  was 
frequently  added  to  it,  {versura,)  and  the  principal  was  often 
thus  gradually  raised  to  several  times  its  original  amount, 
and  a  debt  accumulated  which  could  never  be  discharged. 
The  creditors  were  generally  the  patricians  either  in  their 
own  names  or  as  the  patrons  of  their  clients,  in  whose  hands 
were  all  branches  of  trade,  banking  included  :  the  debtors 
were  the  plebeians,  who  were  solely  devoted  to  agriculture. 
For  after  the  abolition  of  royalty  the  patricians,  having 
gotten  the  government  into  their  own  hands,  ceased  to  pay 
the  tithes  off  the  public  lands  which  they  held  ;  and  all  the 
booty  acquired  in  war  was  reduced  in  publicum,  that  is, 
brought  into  the  chest  of  the  populus ;  they  had  also  the 
money  paid  for  protections,  licenses,  etc.,  by  the  clients,  and 
consequently  were  rich.  On  the  other  hand  the  tribute 
was  rigorously  exacted  from  the  plebeians,  whose  little 
farms  lying  frequently  at  a  distance  from  Rome,  were  ex- 
posed to  the  ravages  of  the  enemy,  their  houses  were  burnt, 
their  cattle  carried  off,  their  farming  implements  destroyed. 
Add  to  this  that  the  loss  of  the  lands  beyond  the  Tiber  had 
reduced  many  families  to  absolute  beggary,  and  further, 
that  the  patricians  actually  excluded  them  from  all  share 
in  the  public  pastures.  We  may  thus  see  how  the  bulk  of 
the  plebeians  may  have  been  deeply  in  debt  and  driven  to 
a  state  of  despair  by  the  rigour  of  their  creditors. 

In  such  a  state  of  things  a  spark  will  kindle  a  conflagra- 
tion.    When  (259)  Appius  Claudius  and  P.   Servilius  were 


•  Besides  the  ordinary  lunar  year  of  twelve  months,  the  Romans 
used,  for  particular  purposes,  the  cyclic  year  of  ten  months,  borrowed 
from  the  Tuscans. 


m 


ROBJAN    LAW    OF    PE9T.  ^% 

consuls,  an  old  man,  covered  with  filth  and  rags,  with 
squalid  hair  and  beard,  pale  and  emaciated,  rushed  one  day 
into  the  Forum  and  implored  the  aid  of  the  people,  showing 
the  scars  of  wounds  received  in  eight-and-twenty  battles. 
Several,  recognizing  in  him  one  who  had  been  a  brave  cap- 
tain, eagerly  inquired  the  cause  of  his  present  wretched 
appearance.  He  said  that  while  he  was  serving  in  the 
Sabine  war  his  house  and  farm-yard  had  been  plundered 
and  burnt  by  the  enemy  ;  the  tributes  had  nevertheless  been 
exacted  of  him ;  he  had  been  obliged  to  borrow  money ; 
principal  and  accumulated  interest  had  eaten  up  all  his  prop- 
erty ;  the  sentence  of  the  law  had  given  himself  and  his 
two  sons  as  slaves  to  his  creditor.  He  then  stripped  his 
back  and  showed  the  marks  of  recent  stripes.  A  general 
uproar  arose ;  all,  both  in  and  out  of  debt,  (nexi  and  soluti,) 
assembled  and  clamored  for  some  legal  relief.  With  dif- 
ficulty a  sufficient  number  of  senators  (such  was  their  ter- 
ror) could  be  brought  together.  Appius  proposed  to  employ 
force,  Servilius  was  for  milder  courses.  Just  then  news 
arrived  that  the  Volscians  were  in  arms ;  the  people  exulted, 
telling  the  patricians  to  go  fight  their  own  battles,  and  re- 
fused to  give  their  names  for  the  legions.  The  senate  then 
empowered  Servilius  to  treat  with  them.  He  issued  an 
edict  proclaiming  that  no  one  who  was  in  slavery  for  debt 
should  be  prevented  from  serving  if  he  chose,  and  that  as 
long  as  a  man  was  under  arms  no  one  should  touch  his 
property  or  keep  his  children  in  bondage.  All  the  pledged 
(nexi)  who  were  present  then  gave  their  names,  the  bound 
(addicti)  hastened  on  all  sides  from  their  dungeons,  and  a 
large  army  took  the  field  under  the  consul.  The  Volscians 
were  defeated,  their  town  of  Suessa  Pometia  taken,  and  the 
plunder  given  up  to  the  army.  An  Auruncan  army  which 
came  to  the  aid  of  the  Volscians  was  routed  a  few  days 
after  near  Aricia.  Servilius  led  home  his  victorious  army 
full  of  hopes  ;  but  these  hopes  were  bitterly  deceived,  when 
the  iron-hearted  Appius  ordered  the  debtor-slaves  back  to 
their  prisons  and  assigned  the  pledged  to  the  creditors. 
But  the  people  stood  on  their  defence,  and  repelled  the 
officers  and  those  who  went  to  aid  them,  at  the  same  time 
calling  on  Servilius  to  perform  his  promises.  The  consul, 
by  attempting  to  steer  a  middle  course,  lost  favor  with 
both  parties,  and  the  year  passed  away  without  any  thing 
being  done. 
The  next  year,  (260,)  wheo  the  consuls,  A.  Virginiu?  and 
6 


62  HISTORY   OF   ROME: 

T.  Vetusius,  attempted  to  levy  an  army,  the  people  refused 
to  give  their  names.  They  now  also  held  nocturnal  meet- 
^>ings  in  their  own  quarters  on  the  Aventine  and  Esquiline, 
*  to  concert  measures  of  resistance,  and  even  went  so  far  as 
to  demand  a  total  abolition  of  debts.  A  portion  of  the  pa- 
tricians were  willing  to  purchase  peace  even  on  these  terms ; 
others  thought  it  might  suffice  to  restore  their  liberty  and 
property  to  those  who  had  served  the  year  before :  Appius 
averred  that  wantonness,  not  poverty,  was  the  disease  of  the 
people,  and  that  a  dictator,  from  whom  there  was  no  appeal, 
would  soon  cure  them.  It  was  resolved,  therefore,  to  try 
the  effect  of  the  dictatorship,  and  the  more  violent  party 
would  have  risked  the  very  existence  of  the  state  by  placing 
Appius  himself  in  the  office ;  but  the  milder  and  more  pru- 
dent succeeded  in  appointing  M.  Valerius,  in  whom  they 
knew  the  people  would  confide. 

The  dictator  issued  an  edict  similar  to  that  of  Servilius  ; 
the  people,  in  reliance  on  his  name  and  power,  readily  gave 
their  names;  ten  legions*  were  raised,  four  for  the  dicta- 
tor, three  for  each  consul.  Valerius  marched  against  the 
Sabines,  one  consul  against  the  iEquians,  the  other  against 
the  Volscians.  Victory  was  every  where  with  the  Romans. 
Valerius,  on  his  return,  lost  no  time  in  bringing  the  affair 
of  the  pledged  before  the  senate,  and  finding  he  could  get 
no  measure  of  relief  passed,  he  laid  down  his  office.  The 
people,  satisfied  that  he  had  kept  his  faith,  received  him  with 
acclamations,  and  attended  him  in  token  of  honor  from  the 
Forum  to  his  house. 

The  dictator's  army  had  been  disbanded,  but  either  one 
or  both  of  the  consular  armies  was  still  under  arms.  The 
plebeians  who  formed  it,  seeing  no  chance  of  legal  relief, 
made  L.  Sicinius  Bellutustheir  leader,  crossed  the  Anio,  and 
encamped  on  an  adjacent  eminence  in  the  Crustumine  dis- 
trict ;  the  consuls  and  the  patricians  who  were  among  them 
were  dismissed  without  injury.  The  plebeians  of  the  city 
meantime  occupied  the  Aventine,  and  there  was  every  pros- 
pect of  affairs  coming  to  civil  war  and  bloodshed.  For  we 
must  bear  in  mind  that  the  patricians,  the  original  ^opw/i/s  of 
Rome,  must  have  been  still  a  numerous  body ;  they  were 
of  a  martial  character,  like  every  body  of  the  kind,  and 
their  numerous  clients  stood  faithfully  by  them  on  all  occa- 
sions; they  were  also  the  government,  and  had  the  means 

*  This  is  incredible  ;  4t  the  Alia  the  Romans  had  but  four  legions. 


ROMAN    LAW    OF    DEBT.  63 

of  negotiating  foreign  aid.  Moreover,  the  hills  of  Rome 
were  all  fortresses,  like  the  Capitol,  their  sides  being  made 
steep  and  abrupt,  and  any  attempt  to  carry  the  Palatine  or 
the  duirinal,  for  instance,  might  have  cost  much  blood. 

Both  sides  were  aware  that  the  issue  of  the  conflict  might 
be  doubtful,  and  that  the  ^Equians  and  Volscians  or  the 
Etruscans  might  take  advantage  of  it  to  ruin  Rome.  A 
mutual  wish  for  accommodation,  therefore,  prevailed ;  and 
the  patricians,  having  strengthened  themselves  by  an  alli- 
ance with  the  Latins,  deputed  the  First  Ten  of  the  senate 
to  the  plebeian  camp  to  treat  of  peace.  One  of  these,  named 
Agrippa  Menenius,  is  said  to  have  addressed  on  this  occa- 
sion the  following  apologue  to  the  people  :  — 

"  In  those  times  when  all  was  not  at  unity,  as  now,  in 
man,  but  every  member  had  its  own  plans  and  its  own  lan- 
guage, the  other  members  became  quite  indignant  that  they 
should  all  toil  and  labor  for  the  belly,  while  it  remained  at 
its  ease  in  the  midst  of  them  doing  nothing  but  enjoying 
itself  They  therefore  agreed  among  themselves  that  the 
hands  should  not  convey  any  food  to  the  mouth,  nor  the 
mouth  receive  it,  nor  the  teeth  chew  it.  But  while  they 
thus  thought  to  starve  the  belly  out,  they  found  themselves 
and  the  whole  body  reduced  to  the  most  deplorable  state  of 
feebleness,  and  they  then  saw  that  the  belly  is  by  no  means 
useless,  that  it  gives  as  well  as  receives  nourishment,  dis- 
tributing to  all  parts  of  the  body  the  means  of  life  and 
health." 

Having  propounded  this  fable,  the  meaning  of  which  was 
obvious,*  Menenius  and  his  colleagues  proceeded  to  treat, 
and  a  peace  was  made  and  sworn  to  by  the  two  orders.  By 
this  treaty  all  outstanding  debts  were  cancelled,  and  all 
who  were  in  slavery  for  debt  were  set  at  liberty  ;  but  the 
plebs  neither  regained  the  consulate  nor  any  other  honors  ; 
for  the  senate,  with  the  usual  wisdom  of  an  aristocracy, 
contrived  to  separate  the  interests  of  the  lower  order  of 
plebeians  from  those  of  their  gentry,  by  making  individual 
sacrifices  in  the  remission  of  debts,  while  they  retained  the 
solid  advantages  of  place  and  power  for  their  order.     They 

*  By  the  belly  must  be  understood  the  moneyed  men,  not  the 
government;  this  would  have  been  the  head.  T.  Quinctius  Flami- 
ninus  seeing  Philopoemon,  the  Achaean  general,  with  plenty  of  hoplites 
and  horsemen,  but  without  money,  said  (alluding  to  his  make,)  "  Phil- 
opoemon has  legs  and  arms,  but  no  belly."  (Plut.  Apoj)h.  Reg.  et  Imp.y 
Opera,  vol.  viii.  p.  144,  ed.  Hutten.) 


V 


W  HISTORY   OF   ROME. 

also  managed  to  have  no  alteration  made  in  the  law  of  debt. 
The  plebeians,  having  offered  sacrifice  to  Jupiter  on  the 
mount  where  they  had  encamped,  which  thence  was  named  . 
the  Sacred  Mount,  (Mons  Sacer,)  returned  to  their  former 
dwellings. 

But  the  real  gain  of  the  plebeians,  and  as  it  proved,  of 
the  patricians  also,  was  the  making  the  tribunate  an  invio- 
lable magistracy.  Hitherto  it  was  with  danger  to  them- 
selves, that  the  tribunes  of  the  plebs  had  attempted  to  give 
the  protection  secured  to  the  people  by  the  Valerian  law ; 
now,  in  the  solemn  compact  between  the  orders,  it  was  de- 
clared that  any  one  who  killed  or  injured  a  tribune  should 
be  accursed,  {sacer,  i.  e.  outlawed,)  and  any  one  might  slay 
him  with  impunity,  and  his  property  was  forfeit  to  the 
temple  of  Ceres.  The  house  of  the  tribune  stood  open 
night  and  day,  that  the  injured  might  repair  to  it  for  suc- 
cor. The  number  of  tribunes  in  the  new-modelled  trib- 
unate, and  who  were  elected  on  the  Sacred  Mount,  was 
two,  C.  Licinius  and  L.  Albinius ;  to  these,  three  more,  tp 
among  whom  was  Sicinius,  were  afterwards  added,  and 
there  thus  was  one  for  each  of  the  Classes.  It  is  rema/k*- 
able,  as  an  instance  of  the  efforts  made  by  the  patricians  to 
keep  up  their  power,  that  the  election  of  the  tribunes  re- 
quired the  confirmation  of  the  curies. 

The  tribunes  were  purely  a  plebeian  magistracy,  the  rep- 
resentatives of  their  order,  and  its  protectors  against  the 
supreme  power.  They  could  not  act  as  judges,  or  impose 
penalties  on  offending  patricians ;  they  could  only  bring 
them  before  the  court  of  the  commonalty.  And  here  it 
must  be  remarked,  as  a  peculiarity  of  the  national  law  of 
ancient  Italy,  that  a  people  who  had  been  injured,  either 
collectively  or  in  the  person  of  one  of  its  members,  had  the 
right  of  trying  the  offender,  whom  his  countrymen,  if  there 
was  a  treaty  with  them,  were  bound  to  give  up  for  the  pur- 
pose. For  it  was  expected  that  sworn  judges  would  be 
more  likely  to  acquit  him,  if  innocent,  than  his  gentiles, 
tribesmen,  etc.  to  condemn  him  if  guilty.* 

Another  plebeian  office,  said  to  have  been  instituted 
(more  probably  modified)  at  this  time,  was  the  iEdileship. 
The  sdiles  acted  as  judges  under  the  tribunes,  and  they 


**  How  much  more  consonant  to  justice  our  own  practice  of  trying 
by  a  mixed  jury  of  natives  and  foreigners !  Yet  perhaps  it  would  not 
have  answered  in  those  times. 


f 


THE    TRIBUNATE.  65 

kept  the  archives  of  the  plebs  in  the  temple  of  Ceres,  which 
was  under  their  care. 

The  time  of  the  consular  election  having  come  on  during 
the  secession,  the  populus  had  appointed  Sp.  Cassius  Viscel- 
linus  and  Postumius  Cominius,  who  had  already  been  con- 
suls, and  a  treaty  was  forthwith  concluded  with  the  Latins, 
the  existence  of  which  enabled  the  patricians  to  make  such 
advantageous  terms  with  the  plebeians.  A  sketch  of  the 
Latin  constitution  may  here  be  useful. 

We  have  more  than  once  had  occasion  to  notice  the  pred- 
ilection of  the  ancients  for  political  numbers.  That  of  the 
Latins,  the  Albans,  and  the  Romans  was  thirty,  or  rather 
three  tens ;  and  therefore,  as  Rome  had  her  thirty  curies 
and  tribes,  so  Latium  consisted  of  a  union  of  thirty  towns* 
Each  of  these  towns  had  its  senate  of  one  hundred  members,' 
divided  into  ten  decuries,  the  decurion  or  foreman  of  each 
of  which  was  deputed  to  the  general  senate  of  the  nation, 
■fvhich  assembled  at  the  grove  and  fount  of  Ferentina,  and 
^hus,  like  that  of  Rome,  contained  three  hundred  members. 
The  union  among  the  Latin  towns,  though  less  close  than 
that  among  the  Roman  tribes,  was  much  more  intimate 
than  the  Greek  federations  in  general,  and  they  always 
acted  as  one  state,  with  a  common  interest.  Each  city  had 
its  dictator,  one  of  whom  always  was  dictator  over  the 
whole  nation,  and  its  head  in  war  and  in  the  performance 
of  the  great  national  religious  rites. 

The  treaty,  now  made  on  terms  of  perfect  equality  be- 
tween the  two  nations,  shows  how  Rome  had  fallen  from 
her  power  under  her  kings.  It  was  to  this  effect :  "  There 
shall  be  peace  between  the  Romans  and  Latins  as  long  as 
heaven  and  earth  shall  keep  their  place ;  and  they  shall 
neither  war  themselves  against  each  other,  nor  instigate 
others  to  do  so,  nor  grant  a  safe  passage  to  the  enemies ; 
and  they  shall  aid  one  another,  when  attacked,  with  all 
their  might ;  they  shall  share  equally  between  them  the 
spoils  and  booty  gained  in  common  wars ;  private  suits 
shall  be  decided  within  ten  days,  in  the  place  where  the 
engagement  was  made ;  nothing  may  be  added  to  or  taken 
from  this  treaty  without  the  consent  of  the  Romans  and 
all  the  Latins.* 

Among  the  spoils  of  war  mentioned  in  this  treaty  was 
the  territory  won  from  conquered  states,  which  was  usually 

*  Dionys.  vi.  95. 


66  HISTORY    OF    ROME. 

added  to  the  public  land,  and  the  Latins  had  ai  demesne 
of  this  kind  as  well  as  the  Romans.  The  Latins  also  had 
their  equal  share  in  the  colonies  which  were  planted.  These 
Roman,  or  rather  Italian,  colonies  were  of  ^  totally  different 
ilature  from  those  of  the  Greftks,;  *  they  were  garrisons 
placed  in  a  conquered  town  to  kee^  it  in  subjection.  To 
these  colonists,  who  were  usually  three  hundred  in  number, 
a  third  of  the  lands  of  the  conquered  people  was  assigned, 
and  the  government  was  placed  in  their  hands,  they  be- 
ing to  the  original  inhabitants,  who  retained  the  rest  of 
their  lands,  what  the  populus  at  Rome  was  to  the  com- 
monalty. 

The  Volscians,  after  the  defeat  they  had  sustainejf^n  the 
year  260,  remained  quiet  for  some  time.  Their  elective 
king  Attus  Tullius,  however,  deeming  that  advantage  might 
be  taken  of  the  divisions  at  Rome,  which  would  prevent 
effectual  aid  being  given  to  the  Latins,  resolved,  if  possible, 
to  rekindle  the  war,  and  he  used  the  following  occasion  forj^ 
that  purpose.  H 

In  the  year  263  the  Great  Games  at  Rome  were  cele- 
brated anew.  For,  some  time  before,  when  they  were  com- 
mencing, and  the  procession  of  the  images  of  the  gods  ^s  ^ 
about  to  go  round  the  Circus  to  hallow  it,  a  slave,  whom  his 
master  had  condemned  to  death,  was  driven  through  it  and 
scourged.  No,  attention  was  paid  to  this  circumstance, 
and  the  games  went  on;  but  soon  after  the  city  was  visited 
by  a  pestilence,  and  many  monstrous  births  occurred.  The 
soothsayers  could  point  out  no  remedy.  At  length  Jupiter 
appeared  in  a  dream  to  a  countryman,  named  T.  Latinius, 
and  directed  him  to  go  tell  the  consuls  that  the  praeluder 
{prcBsultor)  had  been  displeasing  to  him.  Fearing  to  be 
laughed  at  by  the  magistrates,  Latinius  did  not  venture  to 
go  near  them.  A  few  days  after  his  son  died  suddenly,  and 
the  vision  again  appeared,  menacing  him  with  a  greater  evil 
if  he  did  not  go  to  the  consuls.  The  simple  man  still 
hesitated,  and  he  lost  the  use  of  his  limbs.  He  then  revealed 
the  matter  to  his  kinsmen  and  friends,  and  they  all  agreed 
that  he  should  be  carried  as  he  was,  in  his  bed,  to  the  con- 
suls in  the  Forum.  By  their  direction  he  was  brought  into 
the  senate-house,  and  there  he  told  the  wonderful  lale ; 
and  scarcely  had  he  completed  it,  when  lo  !  another  miracle 


*  See  History  of  Greece,  Part  I.  chap.  iv. 


f-A- 


WAR    WITH    THE    VOLSCIANS. 


67 


took  place ;  vigor  returned  all  at  once  to  his  limbs,  and  he 
left  the  senate-house  on  his  feet. 

The  games  were  now  renewed  with  greater  splendor 
than  ever.  The  neighboring  peoples,  as  usual,  resorted  to 
them;  for  in  Italy,  as  in  Greece  and  Asia,  all  solemn  festi- 
vals were  sea.sons  of  saCriB^i  peace.*  Among  those  who  came 
were  numbers  of  Volscians.  Attus  Tullius  went  secretly  to 
the  consuls,  and,  reminding  them  of  the  unsteady  nature  of 
his  countrymen,  expressed  his  fears  lest,  imboldened  by 
their  numbers^  they.sBfould  disturb  the  sanctity  of  the  feast 
by  some  deeff  of  violence.  The  senate  in  alarm  had  proc- 
lamation made  for  all  the  Volscians  to  quit  Rome  by  sun- 
set. They  departed  in  deep  indignation:  at  the  spring  of 
Ferentinathey  were  met  by  Tullius,  who  had  gone  on  be- 
fore ,'  he  exaggerated  the  insult  which  had  been  offered 
them  in  the  face  of  so  many  Italian  peoples,  and  they  re- 
tired to  their  several  towns  breathing  vengeance. 
Mk,  The  Volscians  were  joined  by  their  kindred  nation  the 
BLEquians,  who  were  at  that  time  more  powerful  than  they. 
The  Roman  and  Latin  colonists  were  driven  out  of  Circeii, 
hnd  their  place  taken  by  Volscians.  The  country  thence  to 
Antium  (of  which  place  the  Volscians  also  made  themselves 
^masters)  was  conquered.  The  combined  armies  entered  the 
Romafi  territory,  (266  ;)  but  here  a  quarrel  relative  to  the 
suj^me  command  broke  out  between  them,  and  they  turned 
their  arms  against  each  other. 

In  the  year  268  the  consul  Sp.  Cassius  concluded  a 
llague  with  the  Hernicans  similar  to  that  with  the  Latins. 
As  the  political  number  of  the  Sabellians,  to  whom  the  Her- 
nicans belonged,  was  four,  and  they  were  to  receive  a  third 
of  conquests  and  booty,  it  follows  that  four  t  Hernicans  could 
only  receive  as  much  as  three  Romans  or  Latins.     This 

*  Hence  the  IsraeUtes  are  assured  (Exodus  xxxiv.  24)  that  no  man 
should  "  desire  their  land  "  when  they  went  up  to  their  three  great  fes- 
tivals. 

t  The  cohorts  of  the  Hernicans  contained  400  men,  (Liv.  vii.  7,) 
those  of  the  Samnites  the  same  number,  (Id.  x.  40;)  the  Samnite 
legion  had  4000  men,  (Id.  viii.  23 ;  x.  38;  xxii.  24.)  The  Marsian 
confederacy  (see  above,  p.  5)  consisted  of  four  states,  so  also  the 
Samnite  ;  and  that  the  Hernicans  were  so  divided,  may  be  inferred 
from  the  1000  colonists  sent  to  Antium  by  the  three  allied  nations, 
(Liv.  iii.  5,)  that  is,  400  Hernicans,  one  hundred  for  each  canton  ;  300 
Romans  for  the  three  tribes  of  houses ;  300  Latins  for  the  three 
deouries  of  their  towns. 


• 


68         %  HISTORY    OF    ROME.  ^ 

V  close   union   among  the  three  states   was  caused  by  th^ir 

■^^1*         common   apprehensions   from   the   Ausonian  peoples,   who 
^  were  now  at  the  height  of  their  power. 


CHAPTER  II. 

THE  PUBLIC  LAND. AGRARIAN   LAW    OP  8PURl9b  CASSIVS. 

THE  CONSULATE. VOLSCIAN  WARS. VEIENTINE  WAR. 

THE  FABII  AT  THE  CREMERA. SIEGE  OF  ROME. MURDER 

OF    THE     TRIBUNE     GENUCIUS. ROGATION    OF    PUBLILIUS 

VOLERO. DEFEAT     OF    THE     ROMAN     ARMY. DEATH     OF 

APPIUS  CLAUDIUS. 

The  year  268  is  also  memorable  in  the  annals  of  Rom^^ 
as  that  of  the  agrarian  law  of  Sp.  Cassias  Viscellinus,  theM 
demand  for  the  execution  of  which  proved   for   so   many^ 
years  a  source   of  bitterness  and   anger   between  the   two 
orders.     To  understand  this  matter  aright,  we  must  view  the 
origin  and  nature  of  the  Roman  public  land. 

The  small  territory  about  the  Palatine  belonging  to  the 
city  of  Romulus  was,  as  there  is  reason  to  suppose,  equally 
divided  among  the  ten  curies  of  the  Ramnes.  The  house- 
holders, of  whom  there  were  one  hundred  in  each  cury,  had 
each  a  garden  of  two  jugers,  (one  of  arable,  one  of  planta- 
tion land,)  which  was  termed  a  heredium,  and  one  hundred 
of  these  hered.ia,  or  two  hundred  jugers,  formed  the  century 
or  district  of  the  cury.  But  these  ten  centuries  did  not 
compose  the  whole  of  the  land ;  a  part  was  assigned  for 
the  service  of  the  gods  and  for  the  royal  demesnes,  and  an- 
other portion  remained  as  common  or  public  land.*  This 
last  was  all  grass-land,  and  every  citizen  had  a  right  to  feed 
his  cattle  on  it,  paying  so  much  a  head  grazing-money  to 
the  state.  We  may  suppose  the  two  communities  which 
formed  the  remaining  tribes  of  regal  Rome  to  have  had  their 
lands  similarly  divided,  if  not  originally,  at  least  subsequently, 
for  it  was  the  rule  in  ancient  Italy,  as  all  over  the  East,  and 
even  among  ourselves,!  that  all  landed  property  proceeded 

*  See  above,  p.  15.  t  Blackstone,  Book  ii«  oh.  7. 


THE    PUBLIC   LAND.  OiF 

from  the  sovereign ;  and  therefore  whenever  any  community 
received  the  Roman  franchise,  it  made  a  formal  surrender 
of  its  lands  to  the  state,  and  then  received  them  back  from 
it.  Hence  we  hear  of  assignments  of  land  by  the  early  kings 
to  the  three  tribes  and  to  the  plebs ;  for  the  Latin  commu- 
nities, which  in  the  time  of  King  Ancus  began  to  form  this 
last  body,  of  course  surrendered  and  received  again  their 
lands  in  the  usual  manner. 

The  original  property  *  of  the  three  patrician  tribes  there- 
fore consisted  of  the  six  thousand  jugers  which  formed  their 
heredia,  of  their  original  common  land,  and  of  all  that  had 
been  acquired  previous  to  the  formation  of  the  plebs  ;  this  was  i 
their  property,  and  could  not  be  affected  by  any  law.  But 
when  the  plebs  was  increased,  and,  as  the  infantry  of  the 
legion,  was  a  chief  agent  in  the  acquisition  of  territory,  it 
was  manifest  that  they  had  a  right  to  a  share  in  what  was 
won.  Servius  therefore  enacted,  that  after  every  conquest 
a  portion  of  the  arable  land  which  had  been  gained  should 
be  assigned  in  property  to  such  plebeians  as  required  it,  in 
lots  or  farms  of  seven  jugers  apiece,  and  they  were  also  to 
have  the  use  of  the  public  pastures  in  common  with  the 
patricians  on  the  same  conditions.  The  remainder  of  the 
arable  land  was  the  property  of  the  state  ;  the  use  or  enjoy 
ment  of  it  under  the  name  of  possession  (subject  to  resump- 
tion at  any  time)  was  given  to  the  patricians  exclusively ; 
for  this  they  were  bound  to  pay  the  state  annually  a  tithe 
or  tenth  of  the  produce  of  the  corn-lands  and  two  tenths  of 
that  of  vine-yards  and  olive-yards. t  These  possessions 
were  transmitted  by  inheritance,  and  transferred  by  sale,  as 
it  was  only  in  extreme  cases  that  the  state  exercised  its 
power  of  resumption ;  and  though  the  plebeians  could  not 
originally  occupy  the  public  land,  they  might  buy  the  use  of 
portions  of  it  from  the  patrician  occupants. 

To  gain  the  commonalty,  at  the  time  of  the  expulsion  of 
Tarquinius,  the  patricians  decreed  an  assignment  of  seven 
jugers  apiece  to  the  plebeians  out  of  the  royal  demesnes. 
^ut  as  soon  as  the  cause  of  the  tyrant  had  become  hope- 
less, and  they  had  monopolized  the  supreme  power,  they 
turned  out  of  the  public  land  those  of  the  plebeians  who 
had  acquired  the  use  of  it  in  the  way  above  described;  and, 


*  The  property  of  the  patricians  all  lay  within  the  circuit  of  fire 
miles  round  the  citj?. 
t  Appian,  B.  C.  i.  7* 


70  HISTORY   OP   ROME. 

what  was  still  more  iniquitous,  they  ceased  to  pay  the  tithes 
off  the  lands  which  they  themselves  possessed ;  so  that  the 
tribute  of  the  plebeians  had  to  defray  the  expenses  of  wars, 
etc.,  while  the  booty  acquired  was  usually  sold,  and  the 
produce  diverted  to  the  public  chest  of  the  patricians,  {in 
publicum.)  Hence,  as  we  have  seen,  came  the  distress  of 
the  plebeians  and  the  secession. 

It  was  to  prevent  the  recurrence  of  this  state  of  things 
that  that  excellent  citizen  and  truly  great  man  Sp.  Cassius, 
who  in  his  first  consulship  had  overcome  the  Sabines,  in 
his  second  formed  the  treaty  with  the  Latins,  and  in  his 
third  that  with  the  Hernicans,  in  this  third  also  brought 
forward  an  agrarian  law,  directing,  that  of  the  land  acquired 
since  the  time  of  King  Servius,  a  part  should  be  assigned  to 
the  plebeians,  the  portion  of  the  populus  be  set  out,  and 
tithe  paid  as  formerly  off  all  the  occupied  land.  This  law 
was  passed  by  the  senate  and  the  curies,  but  the  execution 
of  it  was  committed  to  the  consuls  of  the  following  year, 
and  the  ten  oldest  consulars  *  of  the  greater  houses,  —  men 
the  most  apt  to  make  it  a  dead  letter,  as  they  actually  did. 
At  the  expiration  of  his  office  Cassius  was  accused  of 
treason  before  the  curies,  by  the  quaestors  Caeso  Fabius  and 
L.  Valerius,  and  was  condemned  to  death  and  executed 
more  majorum,  that  is,  scourged  and  beheaded ;  his  house 
was  razed,  and  its  site  left  desolate,t  but  his  law  remained, 
and,  as  we  shall  see,  avenged  him  on  his  murderers. 

It  is  a  remarkable  circumstance,  (but  one  which  seems 
to  be  clearly  ascertained,)  that  the  Ramnes  and  Titienses 
among  the  patricians  seem  to  have  aimed  at  excluding  the 
Luceres  as  well  as  the  plebeians  from  the  government ;  for 
from  the  institution  of  the  consulate  to  the  year  253,  M. 
Horatius  is  the  only  consul  of  the  third  tribe.  In  this  year, 
however,  they  recovered  their  right,  and  when  we  call  to 
mind  that  Sp.  Cassius  was  consul  the  preceding  year,  we 
may  feel  inclined  to  regard  that  eminent  man  as  the  author 
of  the  change.  The  consul  of  the  greater  houses  was  named 
the  Consul  Major,  and  he  took  precedence  of  his  colleague. 
This  inferiority  of  the  Luceres  was  marked  on  all  occasions. 

*  That  is,  those  who  had  been  consuls.  The  proper  term  here 
would  be  prcetorians.     See  above,  p.  58. 

t  The  common  account  of  his  being  condemned  by  the  people  (the 
Plebs)  is  quite  erroneous.  He  had  committed  no  ofFence  against 
them ;  the  people  who  tried  and  condemned  him  was,  as  Livy  says,  the 
Populus. 


THE    CONSULATE.  71 

In  the  senate  none  of  them  but  the  consulars  were  author- 
ized to  speak.  The  consulars  of  the  greater  houses  were 
called  on  first  to  give  their  opinions,  then  those  of  the  lesser 
houses,  next  the  senators  of  the  greater  houses,  and  finally 
those  of  the  lesser  silently  voted.* 

The  year  269,  that  of  the  execution  of  Sp.  Cassius,  was 
also  that  of  an  attempt  on  the  part  of  the  major  houses  again 
to  monopolize  the  consulate.  During  seven  successive  years, 
(269 — 275,)  we  find  one  of  the  consuls  always  a'Fabius; 
a  thing  which  can  hardly  have  been  the  result  of  chance. 
It  is  therefore  probable,  that  in  reliance  on  their  allies,  the 
Latins  and  Hernicans,  the  elder  houses  thought  they  might 
venture  on  extending  their  power;  and  as  the  house  of  the 
Fabii  was  by  far  the  strongest  among  them,  they  agreed  to 
let  them  have  for  their  cooperation  one  seat  in  the  consu- 
late in  perpetuity. t  As  by  one  of  the  Valerian  laws  the  cen- 
turies had  the  right  of  choice  among  the  patrician  candi- 
dates, which  choice  was  then  to  be  confirmed  by  the  senate 
and  curies,  and  as  this  course  would  never  suit  their  present 
design,  and  they  moreover  feared  the  election  of  some  one 
who  might  be  disposed  to  avenge  the  murder  of  Sp.  Cassius, 
the  senate  and  curies  in  269  boldly  nominated  Caeso  Fabius 
and  L.  ^milius  to  the  consulate,  and  then  convened  the 
centuries  to  confirm  the  election ;  but  these  refused  to  con- 
sent to  the  abolition  of  their  rights,  and  quitted  the  field 
without  voting.  It  was  fortunate  for  the  commonalty  that  the 
grasping  ambition  of  the  patricians  sought  to  exclude  the 
lesser  houses,  the  larger  portion  of  their  own  body,  from  the 


*  Cicero  de  Rep.  ii.  20.  Niebuhr  (ii.  112—114)  has,  we  think, 
made  this  quite  clear.  It  is  this  writer's  opinion,  that  the  mino- 
res  and  junior es  Patrum  of  Livy  a^  in  reality  the  lesser  houses, 
and  not  the  younger  patricians.  (See  his  History  of  Rome,  vol.  ii. 
note  668,  and  the  places  there  referred  to.)  It  is  certainly  very  re- 
markable that  the  distinction  of  majores  and  jwmorc*  "  appears  very 
frequently  down  till  about  the  year  310,  and  never  after ;  though  the 
contest  between  the  patricians  and  plebeians  lasted  more  than  a  century 
longer  ;  the  young  men  were,  no  doubt,  just  like  those  of  earlier 
times  ;  and  the  chronicles  became  more  and  more  copious."  When 
in  future  we  use  the  phrase  lesser  houses,  it  is  the  juniores  Patrum; 
and  those  who  reject  Niebuhr's  theory  may  substitute  young  patri- 
cians for  it. 

t  A  similar  agreement  would  seem  to  have  been  made  with  the 
Valerii  at  the  beginning  of  the  republic,  as  (omitting,  as  Livy  does, 
the  consuls  of  248)  there  was  one  of  them  in  the  consulate  in  each  of 
the  first  five  years.  The  Valerii  and  Fabii  were  both  Titienses.  See 
also  p.  44. 


72  HISTORY   OP   ROME. 

consulate,  and  thus  forced  them  to  make  common  cause 
with  the  plebs,  which  gave  these  last  time  to  discover  their 
own  strength,  and  to  put  it  forth. 

Though  the  patricians  had  passed  the  agrarian  law,  nothing 
was  further  from  their  thoughts  than  to  let  it  be  executed, 
and  they  sought  to  keep  up  a  continued  state  of  war ;  for 
while  the  legions  were  in  the  field  the  Forum  was  empty, 
and  the  tribunes  had  no  auditors.  The  consul,  Q.  Fabius, 
therefore  (269)  led  an  army  against  the  Volscians  and 
iEquians ;  but  he  withheld  the  plunder  from  his  victorious 
troops,  and  had  it  sold,  and  the  produce  brought  into  the 
patrician  chest.  Next  year  (270)  the  consul,  L.  ^milius, 
fought  with  indifferent  success  against  the  Volscians.  The 
following  year,  (271,)  when  the  consul,  M.  Fabius,  went  to 
enrol  troops  for  the  war,  the  tribune,  C.  Maenius,  forbade 
the  levies  unless  the  agrarian  law  was  executed.  But  the 
consuls  went  to  the  mile  from  the  city,  at  the  temple  of 
Mars,  where  the  tribunician  power  ended,  and  erected  their 
tribunal ;  they  then  summoned  all  who  were  bound  to  serve, 
and  they  seized  the  property  and  burned  and  plundered  the 
farms  of  such  as  did  not  appear.  These  forced  levies  were 
led  by  the  consul. L.  Valerius  against  the  Volscians;  but  the 
soldiers,  though  they  fought  with  courage,  would  not  gain  a 
victory  and  booty  for  the  consul  and  the  patricians,  whom 
they  hated,  and  Valerius  returned  without  fame. 

It  would  appear  that  the  greater  houses  had  now  become 
aware  of  the  danger  of  division  in  their  order,  and  that  they 
effected  a  permanent  union  with  the  lesser  houses ;  for  we 
find  the  senate  in  271  appointing  Appius  Claudius,*  with 
one  of  the  Fabii,  to  the  consulate.  But  the  tribunes  and 
the  plebs  were  to  a  man  against  Claudius ;  the  tribunes 
would  not  suffer  the  curies,  the  consuls  would  not  allow  the 
tribes,  to  assemble  for  the  elections,  and  the  year  expired 
without  any  consuls  being  created.  In  the  beginning  of  the 
next  year  (272)  A.  Sempronius  Atratinus,  the  warden  of  the 
city,  (Custos  Urbis),  as  interrex,  assembled  the  centuries,  who 
elected  C.  Julius,  a  member  of  the  lesser  houses,  as  the 
colleague  of  Q.  Fabius,  who  was  perhaps  also  their  choice. 
A  war  with  the  Veientines  commenced  this  year,  but  no 
event  of  importance  occurred. 

The  year  272  was  marked  by  a  formal  compromise  be- 
tween the  patricians  and    the  commonalty,  securing  to  the 

*  The  Claudii,  though  of  Sabine  origin,  were  among  the  Luceres. 


VEIENTINE    WAR.  73 

centuries  the  choice  of  one  of  the  consuls,  and  leaving  the 
appointment  of  the  other  with  the  senate  and  the  curies, 
whose  nominee  was  now  the  Consul  Major*  The  patri- 
cians made  Caeso  Fabius  consul  for  the  ensuing  year,  (273,) 
and  the  centuries  gave  him  Sp.  Furius  for  his  colleague. 
The  tribune,  Sp.  Licinius,  attempted  to  stop  the  levies  on 
account  of  the  agrarian  law,  but  the  patricians  had  adopted 
the  prudent  expedient  of  procuring,  by  means  of  their  cli- 
ents in  the  classes,  and  by  their  own  influence,  the  election 
of  tribunes  favorable  to  their  order,  and  Licinius  was  op- 
posed by  his  own  colleagues.  Two  armies  were  levied  :  one 
was  sent  under  Furius  against  the  JEquians,  the  other  under 
Fabius  against  the  Veientines.  The  former  army,  under 
the  consul  of  their  choice,  fought  cheerfully ;  and  their  gen- 
eral, in  return,  divided  the  booty  among  them.  The  case 
was  widely  different  with  the  army  of  Fabius.  They  engaged 
the  Veientines  and  put  them  to  flight,  but  they  would  not 
pursue  or  attack  their  camp ;  and  in  the  middle  of  the  night 
they  broke  up,  and  abandoning  their  own  camp  to  the 
enemy,  set  out  for  Rome. 

The  consuls  of  the  next  year  (274)  were  M.  Fabius  and 
Cn.  Manlius  ;  the  former,  of  course,  the  nominee  of  the 
houses.  Bpt  the  Fabii  had  now  seen  the  folly  of  attempting 
to  govern  the  state  on  oligarchic  principles,  and  they  were 
become  sincerely  anxious  to  conciliate  the  commonalty. 
The  tribune,  Ti.  Pontificius,  vainly  attempted  to  oppose  the 
levies,  on  account  of  the  agrarian  law  ;  his  four  colleagues 
were  unanimous  against  him ;  the  armies  were  raised,  and 
led  by  the  two  consuls  into  the  Veientine  territory  ;  but, 
warned  by  the  example  of  the  preceding  year,  the  consuls, 
fearing  to  engage  the  enemy,  kept  their  men  close  in  their 
camp.  The  Veientines,  who  had  been  largely  reenforced 
by  volunteers  from  all  parts  of  Etruria,  seeing  the  inactivity 
of  the  Romans,  and  aware  of  the  cause,  increased  in  confi- 
dence ;  they  rode  up  to  the  ramparts  of  their  camp,  daring 
them  to  come  forth,  and  upbraiding  them  with  their  cow- 
ardice. The  Romans  were  filled  with  indignation ;  they 
sent  their  centurions  to  the  consuls,  entreating  to  be  led  to 
battle :  the  consuls,  secretly  well  pleased,  affected  to  hesi- 
tate, and  declaring  that  the  proper  time  was  not  yet  arrived, 
forbade  any  one  on  pain  of  death  to  leave  the  camp.     This 

*  He  was  first  the  consul  of  the  Ramnes,  then  of  the  creater  houses. 
Seep.  70. 


74  HISTORY    OF    ROME. 

served,  as  they  had  expected,  but  to  augment  the  ardor  of 
the  soldiers ;  the  Etruscans  grew  more  and  more  audacious ; 
the  patience  of  the  Romans  could  hold  out  no  longer;  they 
pressed  to  the  consuls  from  all  parts  of  the  camp,  demand- 
ing the  battle.  «*  Swear,  then,"  cried  M.  Fabius,  **  that 
ye  will  not  return  but  as  conquerors."  The  centurion, 
M.  Flavoleius,  took  the  oath  first,  the  rest  followed  him ; 
they  seized  their  arms,  issued  from  the  camp,  and  soon  stood 
displayed  in  array  of  battle.  The  Etruscans  had  hardly  time 
to  form  when  the  Romans  fell  on  them  sword  in  hand.  The 
Fabii  were  foremost  in  the  attack.  Quintus,  the  consul  of 
the  year  272,  received  a  mortal  wound  ;  his  brother,  the  con- 
sul, rushed  forward,  calling  on  his  men  to  remember  their 
oath ;  a  third  brother,  Caeso,  followed  ;  the  soldiers  man- 
fully obeyed  the  call,  and  drove  back  the  troops  opposed  to 
them.  Manlius  was  also  victorious  on  the  other  wing ;  but 
as  he  was  pressing  on  the  yielding  foe  he  received  a  wound, 
which  obliged  him  to  retire.  His  men,  thinking  him  slain, 
fell  back  ;  but  the  other  consul,  coming  with  some  horse, 
and  crying  out  that  his  colleague  was  alive,  restored  the 
battle.  Meantime  a  part  of  the  Tuscan  troops  had  fallen 
on  the  Roman  camp  ;  those  left  to  guard  it,  unable  to  re- 
sist them,  fell  back  to  the  pr(storium,  and  made  a  stand 
there,  sending  to  inform  the  consuls  of  their  danger.  Man- 
lius hastened  to  the  camp,  and  placing  guards  at  all  the 
gates  fell  on  the  invaders,  who,  driven  to  desperation,  formed 
into  a  close  body  and  rushed  on  the  consul.  Manlius  re- 
ceived a  mortal  wound ;  those  around  him  were  dispersed  ; 
a  gate  was  then  prudently  opened,  at  which  the  Tuscans 
gladly  hurried  out,  but  they  fell  in  with  the  troops  of  the 
victorious  consul,  and  were  most  of  them  cut  to  pieces.  The 
victory  was  complete ;  the  honor  of  a  triumph  was  decreed 
to  Fabius,  but  he  declined  it  on  account  of  the  death  of 
his  brother  and  his  colleague ;  he  distributed  the  wounded 
soldiers  among  the  patricians,  (his  own  gens  taking  the 
larger  number,)  by  whom  they  were  tended  with  the 
greatest  care. 

So  perfect  was  the  reconciliation  now  between  the  Fabii 
and  the  plebs,  that  at  the  next  election  (275)  Caeso,  the 
accuser  of  Sp.  Cassius,  was  the  choice  of  the  centuries,  the 
patricians  nominating  T.  Virginius.  Without  waiting  for 
it  to  be  urged  by  the  tribunes,  Caeso  Fabius  called  on  the 
senate  to  put  the  agrarian  law  into  execution ;  but  he 
and  his  house  were  reviled  as  traitors  and  apostates  from 


THE  FABII  AT  THE  CREMERA.  75 

their  former  principles,  and  his  proposals  treated  with  scorn. 
The  plebeians,  gratified  by  his  conduct,  cheerfully  took  the 
field  under  him  against  the  ^quians,  and  having  invaded 
and  ravaged  their  territory,  hastened  to  the  relief  of  the 
other  consul,  who  had  been  defeated  and  was  surrounded 
by  the  Veientines. 

The  Fabian  house,  finding  that  there  was  no  chance  of 
inducing  their  order  to  act  with  justice  towards  the  plebs, 
and  that  they  were  themselves  become  objects  of  aversion 
to  their  former  friends,  resolved  to  abandon  Rome,  and  to 
form  a  separate  settlement,  where  they  might  still  be  of 
service  to  their  country.  The  place  they  fixed  on  was  the 
banks  of  the  Cremera,  a  stream  in  the  Veientine  territory. 
Led  by  the  consul  Caeso,  to  the  number  of  three  hundred 
arid  six,  accompanied  by  their  wives  and  children,  and  fol- 
lowed by  a  train  of  clients  and  friends,  said  to  have  amount- 
ed to  four  thousand,  they  issued  on  the  ides  of  February 
through  the  Carmental  gate,*  attended  by  the  prayers  of 
the  people  ;  and  coming  to  the  Cremera  raised  their  fortress, 
whence  they  scoured  without  ceasing  the  whole  Veientine 
territory,  destroying  the  lands  and  carrying  off  the  cattle. 
After  some  months  the  Veientines  assembled  a  large  army 
to  assail  the  fortress  of  the  Cremera  ;  but  L.  ^milius,  one 
of  the  new  consuls,  (276,)  led  his  troops  against  them,  and 
gave  them  a  defeat  which  was  followed  by  a  truce  for  a 
cyclic  year.  On  the  expiration  of  the  truce  the  Fabii  resumed 
hostilities.  The  Veientines,  unable  to  cope  with  them  in 
the  field,  had  recourse  to  stratagem.  They  laid  an  ambush 
in  the  hills  round  a  small  plain,  toward  which  they  caused 
herds  of  cattle  to  be  driven- in  view  of  the  fortress.  The 
Fabii  instantly  sallied  forth,  and  while  they  were  dispersed 
in  pursuit  of  the  oxen,  the  Tuscans  came  down  on  them  from 
the  woody  hills,  where  they  lay  concealed,  and  surrounded 
them.  The  Fabii  fought  with  desperation,  and  finally, 
breaking  through  the  enemies,  retired  to  the  summit  of  a 
hill :  but  here  they  were  again  environed,  and  every  one  of 
them  slain.  Their  fortress,  deprived  of  its  defenders,  was 
taken  and  dismantled. 

Another  account  said  that  the  Fabii  had  set  out  unarmed 
for  Rome  to  perform  the  annual  sacrifices  of  their  gens  on 
the  Quirinal.  The  Veientines  collected  a  large  army,  and 
lay  in  ambush  on  the  way ;  the  Fabii,  who  were  proceeding 

*  In  after  times  it  was  considered  unlucky  to  go  out  at  this  gate. 


.*. 


76  HISTORY    OF    ROME. 

carelessly  as^  in  time  of  peace,  were  assailed  on  all  sides  by 
showers  of  missiles  from  their  cowardly  foes,  and  all  fell 
with  many  wounds.* 

The  18th  Quinctilis  (July)  of  the  year  277  was  the  day 
of  the  fall  of  the  Fabii,  about  two  years  and  seven  months 
from  the  time  of  their  leaving  Rome.  That  they  were  sac- 
rificed by  the  oligarchy  at  home  is  highly  probable,  for  the 
consul  T.  Menenius  was  encamped  but  four  miles  off,  and 
he  made  no  effort  whatever  to  aid  them.  His  treachery  or 
inaction,  however,  did  not  avail  him  ;  the  Tuscan  army  came 
and  attacked  and  defeated  him,  and  if  they  had  not  delayed 
to  plunder  the  camp,  they  might  have  destroyed  the  whole 
Roman  army.  The  fugitives  filled  the  city  with  conster- 
nation, the  fort  on  the  Janiculan  was  abandoned,  the  Sub- 
lician  bridge  broken  down,  and  word  sent  to  the  consul 
C.  Horatius,  who  was  out  against  the  Volscians,  to  hasten 
to  the  defence  of  the  city. 

The  Etruscans,  meantime,  had  encamped  on  the  Janicu- 
lan, whence  they  frequently  passed  over  the  river  and  rav- 
aged the  country.  The  peasantry  fled  with  their  cattle 
into  the  city  for  safety,  and  famine  now  began  to  be  felt. 
As  was  the  usual  practice  in  such  cases,  the  cattle  were 
driven,  out  under  a  guard,  into  the  fields  on  the  side  of  the 
city  away  from  the  river;  erelong  the  Etruscans  crossed 
the  Tiber,  in  the  hope  of  being  able  to  carry  them  off; 
but  they  fell  into  an  ambush  near  the  temple  of  Hope 
about  a  mile  from  the  city,  and  received  a  severe  check. 
Soon  after  their  whole  army  crossed  over  in  the  night  on 
rafts,  and  attacked  the  camp  of  the  consul  Servilius  before 
the  Colline  gate,  but  they  met  with  another  repulse.  The 
famine,  however,  was  so  urgent  (for  no  supplies  could  be 
brought  in)  that  it  was  of  absolute  necessity  that  something 
decisive  should  be  done.  Accordingly  the  two  consular 
armies  passed  the  river  at  different  points ;  that  of  Ser- 
vilius assailed  the  Janiculan,  but  was  repulsed,  and  would 
have  been  driven  into  the  river,  but  that  Virginius  came  up 
and  fell  on  the  flank  and  rear  of  the  Tuscans ;  the  other 
army  then  turned,  and  the  enemy  was  finally  defeated,  and 
forced  to  abandon  the  Janiculan.     A  truce  for  ten  months 

*  The  whole  gens  it  is  said  perished,  except  a  child  that  was  left  at 
Rome.  But  as  this  Fabius  was  consul  ten  years  after,  he  must  have 
been  a  man  at  the  time.  From  his  subpequent  history  it  would  appear 
that  he  had  adhered  to  the  old  politics  of  the  family,  and  on  that  ac- 
count did  not  share  in  the  migration. 


MURDER   or    THE    TRIBUNE    GENUCIUS.  77 

was  then  concluded.  At  its  expiration  (279)  the  consul 
P.  Valerius  defeated  the  Veientines  and  a  Sabine  army  un- 
der the  walls  of  Veii.  The  following  year  (280)  a  truce 
for  forty  years  was  concluded;  and  it  was  probably  at  this 
time  that  the  lands  beyond  the  Tiber  were  restored  to  the 
Romans,  and  not  by  the  romantic  generosity  of  Porsenna. . 

We  must  now  take  a  view  of  the  internal  state  of  Rome 
during  this  time. 

As  soon  as  the  Veientines  had  retired  in  278,  the  tribunes 
impeached  T.  Menenius  for  suffering  the  Fabii  to  be  de- 
stroyed. As  they  merely  wanted  to  have  him  declared 
guilty,  they  laid  the  penalty  at  only  2000  asses ;  the  curies 
condemned  him,  and  grief  and  indignation  at  this  desertion  of 
him  by  his  own  order  broke  his  heart,  and  he  died.  Servilius 
was  next  impeached  for  having  caused  the  loss  of  so  many 
lives  by  his  attack  on  the  Jahiculan  ;  he  defended  himself 
with  spirit,  and,  as  was  just,  was  acquitted.  In  the  year 
after  the  peace  (281)  the  tribune  Cn.  Genucius  summoned 
the  consuls  of  the  preceding  year,  L.  Furius  and  C.  Manlius, 
to  answer  before  the  plebs  for  not  having  carried  the  agrarian 
law  into  effect.  The  tribune  offered  sacrifice  before  the 
people  in  the  Forum,  calling  down  curses  on  his  head  if  he 
did  not  proceed ;  the  accused  saw  that  the  danger  of  their 
being  outlawed,  at  the  least,  was  imminent ;  they  had  recourse 
to  the  lesser  houses,  now  the  most  violent  against  the  com- 
monalty, and  it  was  decided  at  a  secret  meeting  to  do  a 
deed  which  should  strike  terror  into  the  hearts  of  the  ple- 
beians. 

Early  in  the  morning  of  the  day  fixed  for  the  trial,  the 
people  were  all  assembled  in  the  Forum,  waiting  for  the 
appearance  of  Genucius.  As  he  delayed,  they  began  to 
suspect  that  he  had  been  terrified  into  an  abandonment  of 
the  prosecution  ;  but  presently  his  friends,  who  had  gone 
according  to  custom  to  attend  him  to  the  Forum,  arrived 
and  told  that  he  had  been  found  dead  in  his  bed,  though 
without  any  marks  of  violence.  His  body  was  brought 
forth ;  the  tribunes  and  the  people  were  filled  with  terror, 
and  fled  from  the  spot ;  the  patricians,  exulting  in  their  suc- 
cess, boasted  openly  of  their  deed ;  and  with  the  hope  of 
being  able  to  carry  their  plans  into  effect,  the  consuls  or- 
dered a  levy,  that  they  might  get  the  most  offensive  of  their 
adversaries  into  their  hands  and  put  them  to  death.  The 
tribunes  feared  to  interfere,  and  had  the  consuls  refrained 
from  insult  they  might  have  succeeded. 

i* 


78  HISTOBY   OF   ROME. 

Volero  Publilius  Philo,  who  had  served  as  a  first  centurion, 
was  called  out  as  a  common  soldier.  As  no  charge  could  be 
made  against  him,  he  refused  to  serve  in  an  inferior  station. 
The  lictors  were  sent  to  seize  him ;  he  appealed  to  the  trib- 
unes ;  the  consuls  ordered  the  lictors  to  strip  and  scourge 
him.  Volero,  a  powerful  man,  flung  them  from  him,  and 
rushed  among  the  people,  calling  on  them  to  aid  him. 
The  lictors  were  beaten,  their  fasces  broken,  the  consuls 
fled  into  the  senate-house ;  the  people,  however,  used  their 
victory  with  moderation,  and  quiet  was  restored  in  part 
through  the  prudence  of  the  senators  of  the  greater  houses. 

The  next  year  (282)  Volero  was  chosen  one  of  the  trib- 
unes; and  instead  of  avenging  his  private  quarrel  by  im- 
peaching the  consuls,  he  devoted  his  energies  to  the  pro- 
curing of  permanent  advantages  for  his  order.  He  brought 
in  a  bill  to  give  the  appointment  of  the  tribunes  to  the  tribes 
instead  of  the  centuries,  where  the  patricians  exercised  so 
much  influence  by  means  of  their  clients.  As  two  of  his 
colleagues  supported  him,  and  a  majority  was  decisive  at 
this  time  in  the  college  of  the  tribunes,  the  patricians  found 
themselves  obliged  to  have  recourse  to  other  means  of  stop- 
ping the  measure. 

A  tribunician  rogation  resembled  a  bill  in  the  British  par- 
liament in  this,  that  if  not  carried  through  all  its  stages  in 
the  limited  period,  (in  the  latter  case  the  session,  in  the 
former  a  single  day,)  it  had  to  be  commenced  anew.  The 
magistrates  and  senators  had  moreover  the  power  of  oppo- 
sing any  motion  of  the  tribunes  which  concerned  the  whole 
republic ;  and  thus,  without  any  factious  design,  a  debate 
might  be  prolonged  to  sunset.  But  the  patricians  had  an- 
other mode  of  impeding  the  proceedings  of  the  tribunes. 
They  and  their  clients  used  to  spread  themselves  over  the 
Forum ;  and  when  it  was  necessary  that  the  ground  should 
be  cleared,  and  the  plebeians  left  alone  to  vote  in  their  tribes, 
and  they  were  therefore  requested  to  withdraw,  (that  is,  to 
walk  over  to  their  Comitium,  on  the  other  side  of  the  Rostra,) 
they  would  refuse ;  this  would  cause  a  tumult,  and  so  all 
proceedings  would  be  stopped  for  the  day.  The  military 
expeditions  formed  another  impediment ;  for  the  clients,  who 
were  not  required  to  serve,  outnumbered  the  plebeians  who 
remained  at  home. 

By  means  of  this  kind  the  bill  of  Publilius  was  defeated 
time  after  time  till  the  end  of  his  year.     But  the  people  re- 


ROGATION    OF    PUBLILIUS    VOLERO.  79 

elected  him,  (283,)  and  gave  him  for  a  colleague  C.  Laetonus, 
a  man  of  great  energy  and  intrepidity.  The  patricians  on 
their  side  raised  the  ferocious  Ap.  Claudius  to  the  consulate ; 
the  choice  of  the  centuries  was  T.  duinctius,  a  member  of 
the  greater  houses,  and  a  man  of  just  and  moderate  senti- 
ments. 

The  tribunes  required  that  both  the  tribunes  and  the 
aediles  should  be  chosen  by  the  tribes  ;  they  further  proposed 
a  resolution  declaring  that  the  plebs,  in  their  tribes,  were 
entitled  to  deliberate  on  matters  affecting  the  whole  state. 
This  the  patricians  resolved  to  oppose  to  the  utmost ;  the  trib- 
unes on  their  side  were  as  determined  ;  and  on  the  eve  of  the 
important  day  Lsetorius  thus  concluded  his  address  to  the 
people.  "  Since  I  am  not  so  ready  at  speaking  as  at  acting, 
be  here  to-morrow,  Romans,  and  I  will  either  die  in  your 
sight  or  carry  the  law.'  In  the  morning  the  tribunes  entered 
the  Forum ;  the  consuls  were  also  present ;  the  patricians 
mingled  with  the  plebeians,  to  prevent  the  passing  of  the  law. 
Laetorius  directed  all  to  withdraw  but  those  who  were  to 
vote  :  the  patricians  took  no  notice  ;  he  ordered  the  officers 
[viatores)  to  seize  some  of  them ;  Appius,  in  an  insulting 
manner,  denied  his  right  to  do  so ;  the  intrepid  tribune 
in  a  rage  sent  his  officer  to  arrest  the  consul ;  Appius  ordered 
a  lictor  to  seize  Lsetorius :  the  plebs  hastened  to  the  de- 
fence of  the  tribune,  the  patricians  to  that  of  the  consul. 
Blood  would  have  been  shed  but  for  the  efforts  of  the  con- 
sulars,  who  forced  Appius  away  to  the  senate-house,  and  of 
Quinctius,  who  appeased  the  people ;  they  however  went  up 
and  occupied  the  Capitol  in  arms. 

There  can  be  no  doubt  that  the  plebs  passed  the  resolu- 
tion before  sunset.  The  senate,  despite  of  the  fury  of  Appius 
and  his  party,  yielded  to  the  suggestions  of  the  more  mod- 
erate and  prudent,  and  silently  adopted  it  as  a  law ;  though  the 
more  far-sighted  saw  that  more  was  yielded  by  it  than  had 
been  done  at  the  Sacred  Mount.  Measures  might  now  ori- 
ginate in  the  assembly  of  the  tribes,  where  (not  as  in  that  of 
the  centuries)  there  was  freedom  of  debate  ;  these  were  to  be 
f  )llowed  by  a  decree  of  the  senate,  and  then  ratified  by  the 
curies. 

It  rtiay  appear  strange  that  the  patricians  (a  part  of  whom 
had  so  lately  been  able  to  lord  it  over  the  rest  of  their  own 
body,  as  well  as  the  plebs)  should  be  now  so  feeble.  But 
their  allies,  the  Latins  and  Hernicans,  were  at  this  time  too 
hard  pressed  themselves  to  be  able  to  give  them  any  aid ;  and 


80  History  of  rome. 

the  preponderance  which  the  lesser  houses  had  acquired,  had 
naturally  excited  jealousy  in  the  older  ones,  and  thus  inclined 
them  to  the  plebs.  And  doubtless  there  must  have  been 
among  the  patricians  many  men  of  liberal  and  elevated  minds, 
who  wished  to  see  justice  done  ;  there  were  others  also  con- 
nected by  marriage  with  plebeian  families. 

It  being  necessary  to  send  armies  against  the  Volscians 
and  yEquians  in  defence  of  their  allies,  the  tribunes  did  not 
oppose  the  levies,  though  an  opportunity  would  be  thereby 
afforded  to  Appius  of  exercising  his  fury  and  revenge.  He 
led  therefore  an  army  against  the  Volscians,  while  Quinc- 
tius  advanced  against  the  JEquians.  It  was  a  contest  between 
Appius  and  his  troops ;  he  sought  to  drive  them  to  despair 
by  invectives  and  by  intolerable  commands ;  they  resolved  to 
show  him  that  he  could  not  bend  them  to  his  will.  His 
orders  were  neglected,  curses  awaited  him  every  time  he 
appeared ;  and  when  at  length  he  led  his  troops  out  to  battle, 
they  made  no  resistance  to  the  foe,  but  turned  and  fled. 
The  Volscians  pursued  them,  slaughtering  the  rearmost,  to 
their  camp,  which  however  they  did  not  venture  to  attack. 
The  consul  called  his  troops  to  an  assembly;  the  soldiers 
fearing  to  go  unarmed,  as  was  the  custom,  refused  to  attend. 
His  officers  besought  Appius,  and  he  gave  way,  and  issued 
orders  for  a  retreat  next  day.  At  dawn  the  trumpet  sounded ; 
the  Volscians,  aroused  by  the  sound,  came  forth  and  fell  on 
the  retiring  army;  a  general  panic  seized  the  Romans,  they 
flung  away  their  arms  and  standards,  and  fled  in  confusion. 
On  the  Roman  territory  the  consul  held  his  court ;  want  of 
arms,  and  the  consciousness  of  having  acted  wrong,  en- 
feebled the  soldiers,  and  the  patricians  and  the  allies  were 
at  hand  to  assail  them  if  they  mutinied.  At  the  command 
of  Appius,  every  centurion  who  had  left  his  place,  and 
every  tenth  common  soldier,  was  seized,  scourged,  and  be- 
headed. 

The  following  year  (284)  the  tribunes  impeached  Appius 
Claudius  for  his  opposition  to  the  interests  of  the  people,  his 
having  laid  violent  hands  on  a  tribune,  and  having  caused 
loss  and  disgrace  to  his  army.  Appius  disdained  to  use  any 
of  the  usual  modes  of  obtaining  favor;  he  would  not  put  on 
a  mean  dress,  or  personally  supplicate  those  who  were  to  try 
him ;  his  language  breathed,  as  ever,  haughtiness  and  de- 
fiance ;  the  people  quailed  before  him ;  the  tribunes  put  off 
the  day  of  trial.  But  ere  the  day  arrived,  the  haughty  Ap- 
pius was  no  more;  his  own  hand  had  terminated  his  exist- 


VOLSCIAN    WAR.  81 

ence.  The  deed,  which  the  Roman  religion  condemned, 
was  concealed  ;  his  body  was,  according  to  custom,  brought 
forth  for  interment :  his  son  claimed  to  have  the  usual 
funeral  oration  pronounced  over  it ;  the  tribunes  attempted 
opposition,  but  the  people  would  not  carry  their  enmity  be- 
yond the  tomb,  and  listened  calmly  to  his  praises,  now  that 
he  had  ceased  from  troubling. 


CHAPTER  III. 

VOLSCIAN  WAR. LEGEND  OF  CORIOLANUS. THE  TERENTIL- 

IAN    LAW. SEIZURE  OF  THE  CAPITOL  BY    THE     EXILES.  

DICTATORSHIP     OF     CINCINNATUS. THE     FIRST     DECEMVI- 

RATE.  —THE  SECOND  DECEMVIRATE. SICINIUS  DENTATUS. 

FATE  OP    VIRGINIA. ABOLITION  OF   THE  DECEMVIRATE. 

The  Volscians,  the  iEquians,  and  the  Sabines  were  now 
the  constant  opponents  of  the  Romans,  the  Latins,  and  the 
Hernicans.  In  284  nothing  of  importance  occurred ;  but 
the  next  year,  while  the  disputes  were  warm  at  Rome  on 
account  of  the  agrarian  laws,  the  flight  of  the  peasantry 
and  the  smoke  of  the  burning  farm-houses  announced  the 
approach  of  a  Vol scian  army.  Troops  were  hastily  levied, 
the  enemy  retired,  but  was  overtaken  and  routed  near  An- 
tium,  and  the  neighboring  seaport  of  Ceno  came  over  to 
the  Romans.  The  Sabines,  who  had  meantime  entered  the 
Roman  territory,  were  attacked  and  (Jriven  off  with  loss  by 
the  consular  armies  on  their  return. 

The  next  year  (286)  the  Sabines  extended  their  ravages 
over  the  Anio,  and  to  the  very  Colline  gate;  but  the  consul 
Q,.  Servilius  obliged  them  to  retire,  and  wasted  their  terri- 
tory in  return.  The  other  consul,  T.  Quinctius,  had  march- 
ed against  the  Volscians  of  Antium.  After  an  indecisive 
battle,  the  Volscians,  being  joined  by  an  ^quian  army,  sur- 
rounded the  Roman  camp  in  the  night  to  prevent  a  retreat. 
The  consul,  having  calmed  the  apprehensions  of  his  men, 
set  the  trumpeters  and  horn-blowers  on  horseback  out  before 
the  rampart,  ordering  them  to  sound  all  through  the  night. 
The  enemy,  expecting  a  sally,  remained  under  arms  while 
the  Romans  took  their  rest.     At  dawn  the  consul  led  out  his 


82  HISTORY    OF    ROME. 

army ;  the  Volscians,  exhausted  with  watching,  retired  after 
a  feeble  resistance  to  the  summit  of  a  rugged  hill;  the 
Romans,  heedless  of  the  missiles  which  were  showered  down 
on  them,  won  their  way  up  to  the  top,  and  the  Volscians  fled 
down  the  other  side.  The  Volscian  colonists  at  Antium  then 
agreed  to  evacuate  the  town,  and  their  place  was  taken  by  one 
thousand  colonists  from  the  three  allied  peoples.* 

For  some  years  (286 — ^290)  there  was  a  cessation  of  hos- 
tilities between  the  Romans  and  the  Volscians ;  but  the 
-/Equians  were  still  in  arms,  the  expelled  colonists  of  An- 
tium and  their  exiled  partisans  fighting  with  the  utmost  zeal 
under  their  banners.  In  289  the  ^Equians  advanced  as  far 
as  Mount  Algidus,t  where  they  pitched  their  camp.  The 
consul  duinctius  came  and  encamped  opposite  them;  but 
they  made  a  sudden  irruption  into  the  Roman  territory  ;  the 
country  folk,  who  expected  no  such  event,  had  not  time  to 
convey  their  property  to  the  city,  or  to  the  strong  pagi,i  and 
the  invaders  carried  off  a  large  booty. 

The  next  year  (290)  thfe  Volscians  of  EretrjE  joined  the 
iEquians.  At  the  urgent  desire  of  the  Hernicans,  the  con- 
sul Sp.  Furius  was  sent  with  an  army  to  their  defence;  but 
he  was  unable  to  oppose  the  superior  forces  of  the  enemy, 
and  was  even  so  closely  cooped  up  by  them  in  his  camp, 
that  it  was  only  through  the  Hernicans  that  his  situation 
could  be  made  known  at  Rome.  T.  duinctius  was  sent 
with  an  army  to  his  relief;  but  Furius  had  meantime  been 
himself  wounded,  and  his  brother  with  one  thousand  of  the 
best  men  slain  in  a  sally.  Cluinctius  relieved  the  army  of 
Furius,  but  the  other  consul  Postumius  had  been  unable  to 
prevent  the  enemy  from  ravaging  the  lands  of  Rome;  the 
peasantry  fled  with  their  cattle  into  the.  city ;  the  heat  ojf  the 
summer,  joined  with  the  want  of  pasture,  caused  a  murrain 
among  the  cattle,  which  was  followed  by  a  dreadful  pestilence 
among  the  people.  The  Volscians  and  iEquians  came  and 
encamped  within  three  miles  of  Rome  on  the  road  to  Gabii ; 
the  country  round,  filled  with  ruins  and  the  unburied  dead, 
offered  nothing  to  plunder;  fear  of  the  pestilence,  or  of  the 
resistance  the  people  might  still  make,  withheld  them  from 

*  See  above,  p.  67,  note. 

t  A  thickly  wooded  range  of  hills  lying  between  Tusculum  and  Ve- 
litrffi. 

t  A  pagus  was  a  place  on  an  eminence  surrounded  by  a  wall  or 
ditch  and  rampart  for  the  people  to  retreat  to  on  such  occasions  as  the 
present. 


LEGEND    OF    CORIOLANUS.  83 

attacking  the  city.  They  broke  up  at  length,  and  proceeded 
to  ravage  all  parts  of  Latium.  The  spreading  of  the  pestilence 
probably  caused  a  cessation  of  hostilities  after  this,  which 
was  followed  by  a  truce ;  and  in  295  the  Romans,  to  dissolve 
the  league  which  they  found  too  strong  for  them,  concluded 
a  separate  peace  with  the  Volscians,  giving  up  Antium  and 
other  towns,  and  entering  into  a  municipal  relation  *  with 
them.  An  advantage  derived  by  Rome  from  this  war,  dis- 
astrous as  it  was,  was  the  utter  ruin  and  breaking-up  of  the 
Latin  union,  several  of  whose  towns  were  obliged  to  place 
themselves  in  a  state  of  dependence  under  her. 

It  is  in  this  war  that  the  celebrated  legend  of  Goriolanus, 
which  has  been  thrown  back  to  the  year  263,  probably  finds 
its  true  place. 

Cn.  Marcius,  a  gallant  patrician  youth,  said  the  legend, 
was  serving  in  the  army  which  P.  Cominius  led  in  261 
against  the  Volscians  of  Antium,  The  Volscians  were  de- 
feated, the  towns  of  Longula  and  Polusca  taken,  and  siege 
laid  to  Corioli.  During  a  vigorous  assault  of  the  town,  the 
Volscian  army  came  from  Antium,  and  fell  on  the  Romans  ; 
the  besieged  at  the  same  time  made  a  sally,  but  they  were 
driven  back  by  a  party  headed  by  Marcius,  who,  entering 
the  town  pellmell  with  them,  set  fire  to  the  buildings  next 
the  wall;  the  Volscians,  seeing  the  smoke  and  flames, 
thought  that  the  town  was  taken,  and  retired.  Corioli  was 
thus  taken,  and  Marcius  derived  from  it  the  name  of  Corio- 
lanus.  This  and  other  exploits  made  him  the  darling  of  ^ 
his  order ;  but  the  plebs  dreaded  him,  and  refused  him  the 
consulate. 

The  next  year  Rome  was  visited  by  a  grievous  famine. 
Corn  was  sought  in  all  quarters,  even  as  far  as  Sicily,  whence 
(263)  there  came  a  large  supply,  part  purchased,  part  the 
gift  of  a  Greek  prince  of  the  island.  It  was  proposed  in 
the  senate  to  distribute  the  gift-corn  gratis  among  the  peo- 
ple, and  to  sell  the  remainder  at  a  low  price  ;  but  Marcius  j^ 
said  that  now  was  the  time  to  make  them  abolish  the  odious  ^\ 
tribunate,  and  advised  not  to  give  them  the  corn  on  any 
other  terms.  When  the  people  heard  what  he  had  proposed, 
they  became  furious,  and  would  have  torn  him  to  pieces, 
but  that  the  tribunes  summoned  him  to  appear  before  the 
assembly  of  the  tribes.     He   treated   their   menaces   with 

*  The  municipium  answered  to  the  isopolity  o£  the  Greeks;  it  con- 
ferred all  civic  rights  but  those  of  voting  in  the  assemblies  or  holding 
office. 


84  HISTORY    OF    ROME. 

contempt,  and  abated  nought  of  his  haughtiness ;  but  the 
other  patricians  supplicated  for  him.  His  condemnation 
however  was  certain ;  so  he  quitted  Rome,  and  went  into 
exile  *  to  Antium,  where  he  became  the  guest  of  Attius 
Tullius.  He  offered  the  Volscians  his  services  against  his 
country ;  they  in  return  gave  him  the  highest  civil  rights ; 
and  when  Tullius  had  rekindled  the  war  as  above  related,! 
Marcius  was  appointed  to  be  his  colleague. 

Success  every  where  attended  the  arms  of  the  exile.  He 
took  the  colony  of  Circeii;  Satricum,  Longula,  Polusca,  and 
Corioli  submitted ;  Lavinium,  Corbio,  VitelUa,  Trebia,  La- 
vici  and  Pedum  opened  their  gates  ;  he  pitched  his  camp  at 
the  Cluilian  Ditch,  five  miles  from  Rome,t  whence  he 
ravaged  the  lands  of  the  plebeians,  sparing  those  of  his  own 
order. 

Fear  and  consternation  reigned  in  the  city,  and  resistance 
was  not  thought  of;  the  senate,  the  curies,  and  the  plebs 
united  in  a  decree  restoring  Marcius  to  his  civic  rights. 
Five  consulars  bore  it  to  him;  but  he  insisted  that  all  the 
territory  taken  from  the  Volscians  should  be  restored,  the 
colonies  recalled,  and  the  Volscian  people  received  into  a 
municipal  relation.  He  gave  them  thirty  days  to  cons^er, 
and  led  off  his  troops  for  that  time.  When  they  were  ended, 
the  Ten  First  of  the  senate  waited  on  him ;  he  gave  them 
three  days  more,  driving  them  from  his  camp  with  threats. 
Next  day  the  flamens,  the  augurs,  and  the  other  ministers 
of  religion  came  in  their  sacred  robes  to  try  to  move  him, 
but  they  too  sued  in  vain.  And  now  the  third  day  was 
come,  and  were  its  sun  to  go  down  on  his  wrath,  he  was 
to  lead  his  troops  against  the  defenceless  city.  But  again 
Rome  owed  her  safety  to  her  women.  A  procession  of  her 
noblest  matrons,  headed  by  the  exile's  venerable  mother 
Veturia  and  his  wife  Volumnia  leading  her  two  young  chil- 
dren, was  seen  to  approach  the  Volscian  camp.  They  en- 
tered and  came  to  his  tent ;  the  tears  of  his  wife  and  the 
other  matrons,  the  threatened  curse  of  his  aged  parent,  bent 

*  Banishment  was  unknown  to  the  Roman  law  during  the  Republic. 
An  exul,  that  is,  one  who  is  out,  (see  above,  p.  58,)  a  fuoruscito,  was 
a  person  who  left  his  native  city  to  reside  in  one  with  which  it  had  a 
municipal  relation.  The  jus  exulandi  might  be  used  by  any  accused 
person  up  to  the  moment  of  the  very  last  tribe  voting  nis  condemna- 
tion. He  was  then  no  longer  a  Roman  citizen,  and  the  interdiction  of 
fire  and  water  prevented  his  return. 

t  See  p.  67. 

t  The  patrician  lands  lay  within  side  of  it.    See  above,  p.  69,  note. 


LEGEND    OF    CORIOLANUS.  85 

his  haughty  soul.  He  burst  into  tears :  "  Mother,  "  cried  he, 
"thou  hast  chosen  between  Rome  and  thy  son ;  me  thou 
wih  never  see  more  :  may  they  requite  thee  ! "  He  embraced 
his  wife  and  children,  and  dismissed  them,  and  next  morn- 
ing he  led  off  his  army.  He  lived  among  the  Volscians  to  a 
great  age,  and  often  was  heard  to  say  that  exile  was  most 
grievous  to  an  old  man ;  *  when  he  died,  the  Roman  matrons 
mourned  a  year  as  they  had  done  for  Brutus  and  Poplicola ; 
and  his  praises,  as  those  of  a  pious  and  upright  man,  were 
handed  dovv^n  to  posterity. 

We  have  called  this  tale  a  legend,  and  said  that  it  is  iii 
its  wrong  place.  The  following  are  a  few  of  the  reasons 
for  our  so  doing.  There  was  no  famine  at  Rome  in  262 ; 
there  was  no  prince,  that  is,  tyrant^  in  Sicily  at  that  time ; 
the  tribunes  had  not  the  power  here  ascribed  to  them  till 
after  the  year  280 ;  the  practice  of  naming  persons  from 
conquests  they  had  made  began  with  Scipio  Africanus,  f 
On  the  other  hand,  there  was  a  famine  in  278,  at  which  time 
Hiero  was  reigning  at  Syracuse ;  and  soon  after  there  was 
a  violent  dissension  between  the  orders,  when  the  proposal 
ascribed  to  Cn.  Marcius  may  have  been  made,  and  the  plebs 
were  theii  strong  enough  to  punish  any  one  who  attempted 
to  do  away  with  any  of  the  fundamental  laws  of  the  state. 
Finally,  the  conquests  ascribed  to  Coriolanus  are  mostly  the 
cessions  made  to  the  Volscians  at  the  peace  of  295. 

Yet  the  story  of  Coriolanus  is  no  mere  fable.  It  is  probable 
that  he  was  at  the  head  of  a  body  of  Roman  exiles,|  serving 
in  the  Volscian  army  in  hopes  of  reentering  Rome  as  victors, 
and  that  he  demanded  their  recall  as  well  as  his  own.  But  as 
these  would  have  reclaimed  their  property  and  have  sought 
vengeance  of  their  enemies,  nothing  could  have  been  more 
dreaded  by  all  parties  than  their  return.  If  then  Coriolanus, 
to  save  his  country  from  this  affliction,  consented  never  to  see 
it  more,  and  return  to  exile  when  he  might  have  entered 
Rome  as  a  conqueror,  he  was  every  way  worthy  of  the  fame 
he  acquired,  and  his  name  should  ever  be  held  in  honorable 
remembrance  as  that  of  a  true  patriot. 

*  Fabius  in  Liv.  ii.  40.  Some  said  he  was  assassinated  by  the 
Volscians ;  others,  (Cicero,  Brutus  10,)  that  he  put  an  end  to  himself 
like  Themistocles. 

t  Liv.  XXX.  45. 

X  The  (pvyaSsg  of  the  Greeks  (see  History  of  Greece,  Part  II.  passim) 
ihefuorusciti  of  the  republics  of  middle  age  Italy.     The  above  is  only 
Niebuhr's  hypothesis;  but  it  is  so  extremely  probable  that  it  is  difficult 
not  to  embrace  it. 
8 


86  QISTORY   OF    ROME. 

We  now  return  to  the  internal  history.  The  pestilence 
of  291  had  committed  dreadful  ravages ;  it  had  carried  off 
the  two  consuls,  three  of  the  tribunes  and  a  fourth  of  the 
senate,  and,  as  is  always  the  case,  had  produced  great  dis- 
soluteness of  manners.  The  patricians,  as  being  a  close 
body,  suffered  more  loss  of  political  strength  than  the  ple- 
beians ;  many  of  their  houses  seem  to  have  died  off,  whose 
clientry  mostly  joined  the  plebs.  Internal  and  external  calam- 
ities combined  to  make  men  aware  of  the  defects  of  the  exist- 
ing institutions,  and  to  induce  them  to  favor  a  constitutional 
reform. 

In  the  year  292  the  tribune  C.  Terentilius  Arsa  took  the 
opportunity  of  the  absence  of  the  consuls  and  the  legions 
to  propose  a  bill  of  reform,  of  which  the  object  was  three- 
fold ;  to  unite  the  two  orders,  and  place  them  on  a  footing 
of  equality ;  to  substitute  a  limited  magistracy  for  the  con- 
sulate ;  to  frame  a  code  of  laws  for  all  classes  of  Romans 
without  distinction.  This  bill  was  passed  by  the  plebs  on 
the  return  of  the  consul  Lucretius,  but  it  was  rejected  by 
the  senate  and  the  curies. 

The  next  year  (293)  the  Terentilian  law  was  brought 
forward  by  the  whole  college  of  the  tribunes.  The  consuls 
to  impede  them  commenced  a  levy ;  the  tribunes  resisted 
it;  the  patricians  and  their  clients  on  their  side  prevented 
by  their  usual  manoeuvres  *  the  voting  of  the  tribes.  They 
were  headed  in  these  attempts  by  Cseso  Quinctius,  a  young 
man  of  great  bodily  size  and  strength,  equally  distinguished 
by  valor  and  eloquence,  and  they  frequently  beat  the  ple- 
beians and  drove  them  off  the  Forum.  At  length  A.  Vir- 
ginius,  one  of  the  tribunes,  impeached  Caeso  under  the 
Icilian  law.  The  patricians  now  awoke  from  their  dream 
and  saw  their  danger,  the  leading  men  among  them  de- 
scended to  th6  humblest  entreaties  to  save  their  champion, 
but  all  was  in  vain.  To  augment  the  odium  against  him, 
M.  Volscius  Fictor,  a  former  tribune,  came  forward  and  de- 
clared that  in  the  time  of  the  plague  as  he  and  his  brother, 
a  man  in  years,  and  but  just  recovering  from  it,  were  pass- 
ing through  the  Subura  they  met  a  party  of  riotous  youths 
headed  by  Caeso,  who  picked  a  quarrel  with  them ;  his  broth- 
er was  knocked  down  by  Caeso,  and  he  died  shortly  after  of 
the  blow;  he  had  himself  applied  to  no  purpose  for  justice  to 
the  consuls  of  the  year.  This  tale  roused  the  people  to 
fury,  and  it  was  with  difficulty  that  the  tribunes  could  save 
the  accused  from  them.     Caeso,  who  had  given  ten  sureties, 

*  See  above,  p.  78. 


SEIZURE    OF    THE    CAPITOL   BY    THE    EXILES.  SI 

(each  bound  in  3000  asses,)  seeing  his  condemaation  certain^ 
retired  secretly  that  very  night  into  Etruria,  and  his  sureties 
had  to  pay  the  money  to  the  temple  of  Ceres.* 

The  elder  houses  began  now  to  think  that  resistance  was 
useless,  and  they  were  anxious  for  an  accommodation :  not 
so  the  juniors ;  they  were  more  irabittered  than  ever,  but 
they  adopted  a  new  system  of  tactics.  On  court  days  they 
and  their  clients  occupied  the  Forum  and  impeded  the  meas- 
ures of  the  tribunes  in  the  usual  way,  taking  care  that  no 
one  should  make  himself  conspicuous ;  on  other  days  they 
vied  vs^ith  each  other  in  kindness  and  courtesy  toward  the 
individual  plebeians.  The  tribunes,  however,  saw  or  affected 
to  see  a  conspiracy  against  themselves  and  their  order,  and 
in  the  next  year  (294)  a  report  was  spread  that  Cseso  had 
been  in  the  city,  and  that  a  plan  was  laid  for  murdering 
them  and  the  leading  plebeians,  and  bringing  back  the  re- 
public to  what  it  had  been  before  the  secession.  While  the 
minds  of  the  people  were  thus  kept  in  a  state  of  uncertainty, 
cries  of  To  Arms  !  and  The  enemies  are  in  the  city  !  were  heard 
one  night,  raised  by  persons  who  were  flying  for  their  lives 
down  from  the  Capitol  to  the  Forum,  and  averring  that  the 
citadel  was  seized  by  a  body  of  men  who  were  putting  to 
death  all  who  would  not  join  them.  Terror  prevailed  all 
through  the  night,  and  guards  were  placed  on  the  Aventine 
aUd  Esquiline,  and  the  streets  leading  to  them. 

.  The  morning  revealed  the  truth.  A  body  of  exiles  and 
runaway  slaves  with  the  clients  of  Appius  Herdonius,  a 
powerful  Sabine  who  had  placed  himself  at  their  head,  had 
come  down  the  river  by  night  in  boats,  and  entering  the  city 
by  the  Carmental  gate,  (which,  from  a  religious  motive,  was 
never  closed,)  had  mounted  to  the  Capitol,  that  was  at  hand, 
and  made  themselves  masters  of  it.  At  dawn  Herdonius 
called  aloud  on  the  -  slaves,  but  in  vain,  to  rise  for  their 
liberty  ;  the  consuls,  on  their  side,  having  secured  the  gates 
and  walls  against  an  attack  from  without,  which  they  ap- 
prehended, wished  to  assail  the  Capitol  at  once,  and  began 
to  administer  the  military  oath.  But  the  tribunes,  who 
maintained  that  the  whole  was  only  a  device  of  the  patri- 
cians, and  that  those  on  the  Capitol  were  nothing  but  their 
friends  and  clients,  opposed  the  levy,  saying  that  now  was 

*  "  The  money,"  says  Livy,  <'  was  cruelly  exacted  from  his  father." 
If  so,  it  must  have  been  by  the  sureties ;  but  this  is  a  mere  fiction  to 
account  for  the  narrow  circumstances  in  which  we  shall  find  Cincin- 
nfttus. 


88  HISTORY   OF   ROME. 

the  time  to  pass  the  bill,  while  the  plebs  were  under  arms, 
and  that  then  those  above  would  go  off  as  quietly  as  they 
came.  In  this  confusion  the  consul  P.  Valerius  saved  his 
country ;  he  implored  the  people  to  consider  the  danger  if 
their  enemies  were  to  learn  that  the  Capitol  was  occupied, 
and  he  pledged  himself  that  when  the  danger  was  over  no 
hinderance  should  be  given  to  the  voting  of  the  assembly, 
and  that  if  the  bill  was  passed  it  should  be  made  law. 

The  word  of  a  Valerius  sufficed ;  the  plebeians  took  the 
oath,  but  the  day  was  far  spent,  and  the  assault  had  to  be 
deferred  to  the  morrow.  In  the  morning,  being  joined  by 
the  Tusculans,  whom  their  dictator  L.  Marailius  had  brought 
to  their  aid,  they  began  to  ascend.  The  outlaws  fought 
with  desperation,  but  they  were  driven  back;  a  part  of  them 
defended  the  temple,  and  the  consul  Valerius,  who  led  the 
attack,  was  slain  in  forcing  the  vestibule.  At  length  all 
were  killed  or  taken.  Herdonius,  and  most  probably  Caeso 
Quinctius,  *  was  among  the  slain ;  all  the  prisoners  were 
executed.  The  plebs  assessed  themselves  to  defray  the  ex- 
penses of  a  solemn  funeral  for  the  patriotic  consul. 

The  tribunes  now  called  on  C.  Claudius,  the  remaining 
consul,  to  perform  the  promise  of  his  deceased  colleague; 
but  he  refused  to  act  by  himself,  and  the  senate  and  curies 
made  L.  Quinctius  Cincinnatus,  the  father  of  Caeso,  consul, 
who  breathing  vengeance  against  the  plebeians,  resolved  to 
take  advantage  of  the  military  oath  they  had  taken  to  Va- 
lerius, and  leading  them  away  from  Rome  force  them  to 
pass  what  laws  the  senate  pleased.  He  ordered  them  to  re- 
pair in  arms  to  the  lake  Regillus,  whither  the  augurs  were 
sent  to  consecrate  a  field  for  the  comitia^  But  the  courage 
of  the  patricians  again  failed  them ;  the  measure  was  aban- 
doned, on  condition  of  the  law  not  being  agitated  that  year ; 
they  tried  also,  but  to  no  purpose,  to  prevent  the  reelection 
of  the  tribunes,  and  they  were  obliged  to  give  up  an  attempt 
at  making  Cincinnatus  consul  for  the  ensuing  year. 

The  following  year  (295)  was  that  of  the  peace  with  the 
Volscians.  The  ^quians  were  still  in  arms,  and  in  296 
the  consul  Minucius  was  defeated  by  them  and  besieged  in 
his  camp  on  Mount  Algidus.  An  army  sent  from  Rome 
relieved  him ;  but  as  he  had  lost  the  battle  through  his  own 
fault,  he  was  obliged  to  resign  the  command  to  d.  Fabius. 

This  event  was  transmitted  in  the  poetic  legendary  form, 

*  Two  years  after  (Livy  iii.  25)  he  is  spoken  of  in  a  manner  which 
shows  that  he  was  not  living. 


DICTATORSHIP    OF    CINCINNATUS.  89 

and  being  associated  with  a  celebrated  name,  it  has  come 
down  to  us  in  the  following  manner. 

The  JEquians,  who  had  been  parties  to  the  peace  of  the 
preceding  year,  now  broke  out,  and  led  by  Gracchus  Cloelius 
ravaged  the  lands  of  Latium.  They  encamped  with  their 
booty  on  Mount  Algidus,  whither  Roman  ambassadors  came 
to  complain  of  this  breach  of  faith.  The  iEquian  general 
insolently  desired  them  to  make  their  complaint  to  the  oak 
beneath  whose  capacious  shade  he  was  seated.  The  Ro- 
mans took  the  oak  and  the  gods  to  witness  of  the  justice  of 
their  cause,  and  departed.  The  consul  Minucius  led  his 
army  to  the  Algidus ;  but  fortune  favored  the  misdoers,  and 
he  was  shut  up  by  them,  with  a  rampart  raised  round  his 
camp.  Five  horsemen  who  escaped  ere  the  enemy's  lines 
were  completed,  brought  the  tidings  to  Rome ;  it  was  resolved 
to  create  a  dictator ;  the  choice  fell  on  L.  Quinctius  Cincin- 
natus,  who  was  living  on  a  small  farm  of  four  jugers  in  the 
Vatican  land  beyond  the  Tiber.  The  officer  {viator)  sent  to 
inform  him  of  his  appointment  *  found  him  guiding  his  plough 
with  nothing  on  but  an  apron,t  it  being  summer  time ;  he 
bade  him  clothe  himself  to  hear  the  message  of  the  senate 
and  the  Fathers.  Cincinatus  called  to  his  wife  Racilia  to 
fetch  him  his  toga  out  of  the  cottage.  When  he  was  dressed, 
the  officer  saluted  him  as  dictator ;  a  boat  lay  ready  to  convey 
him  across  the  river ;  at  the  other  side  he  was  received  by 
his  three  sons  and  several  of  his  friends  and  kinsmen  and  a 
number  of  the  patricians,  and  was  conducted  by  them  to  his 
house. 

Before  dawn  next  morning  he  entered  the  Forum,  and 
having  appointed  L.  Tarquitius,  a  man  brave  but  poor,  to  be 
master  of  the  horse,  he  ordered  all  the  shops  to  be  closed,  all 
business  to  be  suspended,!  and  every  one  able  to  serve  to 
appear  by  sunset  without  the  city,  with  food  dressed  for  five 
days,  and  with  twelve  palisades.  While  those  who  were  to 
march  were  cutting  their  pales  and  preparing  their  arms, 
those  who  were  to  remain  dressed  the  victuals  for  them.  At 
night-fall,  all  being  ready,  the  dictator  set  forth  at  their  head, 
and  at  midnight  they  had  reached  the  Algidus,  where  they 
halted  near  the  camp  of  the  enemy.  The  dictator,  having 
ridden  forward  to  take  a  view  of  it,  directed  his  officers  to 
make  the  men  lay  down  their  baggage,  and  with  their  arms 

*  Pliny,  H.  N.  xviii.  4. 

t  Midus  ara,  sere  nudus,  Virg.  Geor.  i.  299. 

t  This  was  called  a  Justitium. 

8*  L 


90  HISTORY    OF    ROME. 

and  palisades  alone  to  resume  their  order  of  march,  and 
having  surrounded  the  enemy  to  raise  a  loud  shout  and  begin 
to  cast  up  a  ditch  and  rampart.  His  orders  were  obeyed ; 
the  shout  pealed  over  the  camp  of  the  ^Equians  to  that  of  the 
Romans,  filling  those  with  terror,  these  with  joy  and  hope. 
The  besieged  burst  forth  from  their  camp,  and  fought  with 
the  iEquians  til]  the  dawn.  Meantime  the  dictator's  army 
had  completed  their  works,  and  the  ^quians,  thus  shut  in, 
and  now  assailed  from  within  and  without,  sued  for  mercy. 
The  terms  granted  were  the  surrender  of  Cloelius  and  the 
principal  officers,  and  of  their  town  of  Cor  bio  with  all 
the  property  in  it ;  the  rest,  having  passed  under  the  yoke, 
might  then  depart  unarmed.  Clcelius  and  his  officers  were 
then  laid  in  chains ;  an  opening  was  made  in  the  Roman 
line ;  two  spears  upright  and  one  across  (thejugum,  or  yoke) 
were  set  up  in  it,  under  which  the  ^quian  soldiers,  with 
nothing  on  but  their  tunics,  marched  out,  their  camp  and  all 
in  it  remaining  in  the  hands  of  the  victors.  The  spoil  was 
divided,  among  the  liberating  army ;  the  liberated  called  the 
dictator  their  patron,  and  gave  him  a  golden  crown  of  a  pound 
in  weight.  He  entered  the  city  in  triumph;  tables  were 
spread  with  provisions  before  all  the  doors  as  the  soldiers 
passed,  and  joy  and  festivity  every  where  prevailed.  The 
dictator  at  the  end  of  sixteen  days  laid  down  his  office,  and 
declining  all  the  gifts  that  were  offered  him  returned  to  his 
farm. 

Pity  that  so  pleasing  a  legend  will  not  pass  the  ordeal  of 
criticism !  Five  palisades  being  counted  a  heavy  load  for  a 
soldier  used  to  duty,  how  could  men  called  out  on  a  sudden 
levy  carry  twelve?  and  how  could  they  march  thus  laden 
twenty  miles  from  sunset  to  midnight  ?  Each  soldier,  to  use 
so  many,  must  have  had  a  fathom  of  ground  to  intrench,  and 
would  the  iEquians  make  no  effi^rt  to  break  through  so  thin 
a  line  ?  The  manner  in  which  Cincinatus  learned  his  ele- 
vation to  the  dictatorship  is  also  told  of  his  consulate,  and 
twenty  years  after  Cloelius  is  taken  just  in  the  same  way  near 
Ardea ;  the  giving  up  of  Corbia  is  a  pure  invention  of  the 
annalists;  and  finally,  the  ^Equians  were  not  included  in  the 
peace  of  295,  and  so  could  not  have  been  guilty  of  perjury. 
But  the  dictatorship  of  Cincinatus  appears  in  reality  to  have 
had  a  much  less  noble  origin.  In  295  the  quaestors,  A. 
Cornelius  and  Q,.  Servilius,  accused  M.  Volscius  before  the 
curies,*  for  having  by  perjury  caused  the  ruin  of  one  of  their 

*  See  above,  p.  62. 


DICTATORSHIP    OF    CINGINNATUS.  91 

order  j  the  tribunes,  however,  prevented  the  patricians  from 
going  on  with  the  trial,  and  nothing  could  be  done  in  that 
year.  Next  year  the  tribunician  power  had  to  give  way 
before  that  of  the  dictator,  and  Cincinnatus  had  the  satisfac- 
tion of  seeing  the  accuser  of  his  son  driven  into  exile.  He 
then  laid  down  his  office,  and  retired  to  his  farm. 

Under  the  mild  and  equitable  form  of  government  which  we 
enjoy,  it  is  difficult  for  us  to  conceive  the  bitter,  ruthless  spirit 
which  animated  the  oligarchies  and  democracies  of  antiquity. 
On  the  present  occasion,  the  patricians  scrupled  at  no  means 
of  offence ;  they  not  only  impeded  the  assemblies  of  the 
plebeians,  but  they  caused  the  most  active  and  daring  of  them 
to  be  assassinated.*  But  all  would  not  avail ;  the  same  trib- 
unes were  reelected  every  year,  and  in  297  their  number- 
was  increased  to  ten,  two  from  each  of  the  classes ;  and  the 
next  year  the  senate  and  curies  were  obliged  to  confirm  a  law, 
proposed  by  the  tribune  Icilius,  for  assigning  the  whole  of  the 
Aventine  to  the  plebeians.  At  length,  (300,)  the  patricians 
gave  way  on  the  subject  of  the  Terentilian  law,  and  agreed 
to  a  revision  of  the  laws ;  and  three  senators  were  sent  to 
Athens,  then  flourishing  under  Pericles,  to  gain  a  knowledge 
of  its  laws  and  constitution. 

In  the  year  301  Rome  was  again  visited  by  the  pestilence, 
and  one  of  the  consuls,  his  successor,  four  tribunes,  an  au- 
gur, one  of  the  three  great  flamens,  many  senators,  half  the 
freemen,  and  all  the  slaves  are  said  to  have  died  of  it.  It 
fell  with  equal  fury  on  the  Volscians,  ^quians,  Sabines,  and 
other  peoples  of  Italy,  t 

At  length  (302)  the  plague  ceased,  and  the  envoys  having 
returned  from  Greece,  a  board  of  ten  patricians,  one  half  to 
be  elected  by  the  centuries,  (the  plebeians  having  given  up 
their  original  demand  of  a  share  in  it,!)  was  appointed  to 
draw  up  and  enact  a  general  code  of  laws.  As  in  cases  of 
this  kind  in  antiquity  the  lawgivers  were  intrusted  with  all 
the  powers  of  the  state,  §  the  consulate  and  the  other  magis- 
tracies were  all  merged  in  the  decemvirate,  and  the  decem- 
virs were  thus  invested  with  nearly  absolute  power.     Being 

*  Dion  Exc.  de  sent.  22.,  and  Zonoras,  vii.  17. 

t  It  was  probably  connected  with  the  plague  at  Athens,  which  broke 
out  some  years  afler,  and  with  the  earthquakes  and  volcanic  eruptions 
which  prevailed  at  this  time. 

I  Terentilius  had  required  that  of  the  ten  comixiissioners  to  be  ap- 
pointed, five  should  be  plebeians. 

§  As  in  the  case  of  Solon  and  the  Thirty  at  Athens.  See  History 
of  Greece. 


^  HISTORY   OF    ROME. 

in  effect  a  decury  of  interrexes,  they  exercised  the  supreme 
power  by  turns :  he  who  held  it  was  named  Custos  Urbis ; 
he  was  attended  by  the  twelve  lictors,  and  presided  over  the 
senate  and  the  whole  republic ;  his  colleagues  acted  as  judges, 
each  being  attended  by  a  beadle,  (Accensus.) 

It  was  not  the  desire  of  the  Romans  to  have  an  entirely 
new  constitution ;  a  selection  was  to  be  made  out  of  their 
existing  laws  and  usages,  with  such  improvements  as  might 
be  derived  from  those  of  other  nations.  The  decemvirs  ap- 
plied themselves  sedulously  to  their  task,  and  having  drawn 
up  a  code  in  ten  laws  or  tables,  they  made  them  public,  in 
order  to  receive  such  suggestions  as  might  be  offered  for  their 
improvement.  After  some  time  they  laid  the  amended  code 
before  the  senate,  and,  on  their  approval,  before  the  centuries, 
whose  assent  was  solemnly  ratified  by  the  curies.  The  laws 
were  then  cut  on  tables  of  brass,  and  hung  up  in  the  Comi- 
tium. 

By  this  celebrated  code  the, two  orders  were  placed  on  an 
equality,  as  far  as  was  possible  at  the  time.  The  patricians, 
with  their  clients  and  the  agrarians,  were  admitted  into  the 
plebeian  tribes,  and  all  thus  united  in  one  civic  body,  in 
which  the  patricians  were  to  form  a  numerous  nobility. 
The  supreme  power  was  to  be  annually  confided,  not  to  con- 
suls, but  to  a  board  of  ten  civil  and  military  officers,  one 
half  of  whom  were  to  be  plebeians.  Among  the  patricians 
the  old  distinction  of  greater  and  lesser  houses  seems  to 
have  been  done  away  with,  for  we  find  soon  after  the  votes 
taken  in  the  senate  without  any  certain  order.  * 

The  law  of  debt  enacted  or  retained  was  rigorous  in  the 
extreme.  In  case  of  a  nexum,  the  creditor  could  arrest  his 
debtor  after  thirty  days,  and  if  he  did  not  discharge  his  debt 
or  give  security,  he  might  take  him  home  and  put  him  in 
irons,  which  at  the  most  were  to  weigh  fifteen  pounds  ;  if 
he  could  not  supply  himself  with  food,  his  creditor  was  to 
ajlow  him  a  pound  of  corn  a  day.  If  after  sixty  days  no 
arrangement  had  been  niade,  the  debtor  was  brought  before 
the  praetor  on  three  successive  market-days,  and  the  amount 
of  his  debt  proclaimed,  and  if  no  one  came  forward  to  pay 
or  secure  it,  the  creditor  was  authorized  to  kill  him  or  sell 
him  beyond  the  Tiber.  If  there  were  several  creditors,  they 
might  divide  his  body  among  them,  and  no  one  could  be 
punished  for  cutting  off  more  or  less  than  his  exact  share,  t 

*  Dionys.  xi.  16.     See  above,  p.  70. 

t  Gellius  XX.  1.      Si  plus  minttsve  seeuerurU  se  fraude  esto.    This 


THE    FIRST    DECEMVIRATE.  ifS 

When  the  time  for  creating  the  new  magistrates  came, 
the  patricians,  doubtless  with  a  design  of  enfeebling,  if  not 
overthrowing,  the  new  constitution,  sought  to  have  L.  Cin- 
cinnatus,  T.  duinctius,  and  C.  Claudius  elected.  But  Ap- 
pius  Claudius  the  decemvir,  who,  from  the  moment  the  re- 
form was  resolved  on,  had  courted  the  people,  and  had  now 
completely  won  their  confidence,  was  determined  to  retain 
the  power  he  had  acquired.  His  colleagues,  to  impede  him, 
chose  him  to  preside  at  the  election,  thinking  he  would 
not  have  the  hardihood  to  put  himself  in  nomination.  But 
they  were  deceived;  he  did  so,  and  was  elected  with  four 
patrician  and  five  plebeian  colleagues. 

On  the  ides  of  May,  (304,)  the  day  they  were  to  enter  on 
their  office,  the  decemvirs,  to  the  amazement  of  the  people, 
came  forth,  each  preceded  by  twelve  lictors  with  the  axes 
in  their  fasces.  Appius,  by  his  force  of  character,  gained 
a  commanding  influence  in  the  college :  the  government  was 
despotic,  but  during  this  year  not  unjust;  no  assemblies 
were  held ;  the  senate  had  little  or  nothing  to  do,  and  most 
of  the  senators  retired  to  their  farms  ;  externally,  there  was 
peace.  Toward  the  end  of  the  year  the  decemvirs  pro- 
mulgated two  new  tables  of  laws,  making  the  whole  num- 
ber twelve,  and  these,  under  the  name  of  the  Twelve  Tables, 
became  the  source  and  foundation  of  the  future  Roman 
law.  The  decemvirs,  like  most  men  when  possessed  of 
uncontrolled  power,  soon  began  to  abuse  it.  They  at  first 
oppressed  both  orders  alike,  but  they  speedily  tyrannized 
almost  exclusively  over  the  plebs,  now  divested  of  the  pro- 
tection of  the  tribunate.  In  this  they  were  supported  by 
the  patrician  youth,  who  were  eager  to  gratify  their  feelings 
of  hatred  against  the  people. 

In  the  second  year  of  the  decemvirate  (305)  the  i^Equians 
and  Sabines  renewed  hostilities ;  the  former  encamped  as 
usual  on  the  Algidus,  the  latter  at  Eretum.  The  decemvirs 
convened  the  senate  to  give  orders  for  the  levies  ;  when  it 
met,  L.  Valerius  and  M.  Horatius,  the  grandsons  of  the 
liberators,  boldly  but  to  no  purpose  inveighed  against  their 
tyranny.  The  senate  did  as  they  required ;  the  plebeians 
having  nowhere  to  appeal  to,  gave  their  names  though 
with  reluctance,  and  two  armies  were  formed  and  led  by 

proves  that  it  could  not  have  been  a  sectio  bonorum,  as  some  humane 
critics  suppose.  Shylock  would  have  found  no  difficulty  here.  The 
real  object  of  the  law  was  to  conquer  the  avarice  and  the  stubborn 
obstinacy  of  the  Roman  character. 


94  HISTORY   or   ROME. 

the  military  decemvirs  against  the  enemies.  But  each  army 
let  itself  be  beaten  ;  the  one  on  Algidus  even  abandoned  its 
camp  and  sought  refuge  at  Tusculum,  the  other  fled  by 
night  from  near  Eretum  and  encamped  on  an  eminence  be- 
tween Fidenae  and  Crustumeria. 

In  this  army  there  was  a  distinguished  veteran  named 
L.  Sicinius  Dentatus,  formerly  a  tribune  of  the  people.  It  is 
said  *  that  he  had  fought  in  one  hundred  and  twenty  battles, 
had  forty-five  scars  in  front,  had  gained  spears,  horse-trap- 
pings, and  other  rewards  of  valor  without  number,  and  had 
attended  the  triumphs  of  nine  generals  under  whom  he  had 
served.  This  man  awaked  in  the  army  the  remembrance 
of  the  adjacent  Sacred  Mount,  where,  forty-five  years  before 
the  people  had  gained  their  charter,  and  chid  them  for  not 
imitating  their  gallant  fathers.  The  generals,  being  resolved 
to  put  him  out  of  the  way,  sent  him  with  a  party  to  choose 
a  spot  for  encampment,  giving  orders  to  those  under  him, 
who  were  their  own  creatures,  to  fall  on  and  slay  him.  These 
executed  their  mandate ;  in  a  lonely  spot  they  assailed  the 
veteran  hero,  who,  placing  his  back  against  a  rock,  perished 
not  unavenged,  for  fifteen  were  slain  and  double  the  num- 
ber wounded  by  his  hand.  The  rest  fled  back  to  the  camp, 
crying  out  how  they  had  fallen  into  an  ambush  of  the  enemy, 
who  had  slain  their  leader  and  several  of  their  comrades. 
A  party  was  sent  to  bury  the  slain  ;  but  they  could  perceive 
no  traces  of  an  enemy ;  the  body  of  Sicinius  lay  unspoiled 
in  his  armor ;  all  the  slain  were  Romans,  and  were  turned 
toward  him,  and  consequently  must  have  fallen  by  his 
hand ;  that  he  perished  by  the  treachery  of  the  decemvirs 
therefore  was  evident.  The  soldiers  were  incensed,  but  a 
splendid  military  funeral  given  to  Sicinius  by  the  generals 
pacified  them  in  some  measure. 

But  a  more  atrocious  deed  was  done  in  the  city.  Appius 
Claudius,  as  he  sat  in  the  Forum  to  administer  justice,  was 
in  the  habit  of  seeing  a  lovely  and  modest  plebeian  maiden 
go  daily,  attended  by  her  nurse,  to  one  of  the  schools  which 
were  held  about  it,  to  learn  the  art  of  writing.  She  was 
named  Virginia,  and  was  the  daughter  of  L.  Virginius,  one 
of  the  noblest  plebeians,  and  betrothed  to  L.  Icilius,  who 
had  been  tribune.  The  decemvir  cast  an  eye  of  lust  on 
the  innocent  maiden ;  he  vainly  tried  the  effect  of  promises 
and  bribes  :  difficulty  only  augmented  his  passion,  and  he 
scrupled  at  no  means  to  gratify  it.     He  therefore  directed 

*  PUny,  H.  N.  vii.  28. 


FATE    OF    VIRGINIA.  95 

M.  Claudius,  one  of  his  clients,  to  claim  her  as  his  slave  :  his 
orders  were  obeyed ;  and  as  Virginia  was  crossing  the  Forum 
on  her  way  to  the  school,  Claudius  laid  hold  on  her  as  his 
property.  At  the  loud  cries  of  her  nurse  a  crowd  collected 
to  oppose  him  ;  Claudius  coolly  said  he  needed  not  force,  as 
his  claim  was  a  legal  one.  All  went  before  the  tribunal  of 
Appius,  who  was  sitting  in  the  Comitium.  The  plaintiff,  as 
had  been  agreed  on,  averred  that  she  was  the  offspring  of 
one  of  his  female  slaves,  who  had  given  her  to  the  childless 
wife  of  Virginius,  and  he  now  claimed  her  as  his  slave.  The 
friends  of  Virginia  prayed  that  as  her  father  was  absent  on 
the  affairs  of  the  state,  being  a  centurion  in  the  army  on 
the  Algidus,  a  delay  of  two  days  might  be  given,  and  that 
meantime,  by  the  decemvir's  own  law,  security  should  be 
taken  for  her  appearance.  Appius,  pretending  that  his  law 
did  not  apply  to  the  present  case,  decided  that  she  should 
be  delivered  up  to  the  claimant,  on  his  giving  security  to 
produce  her  when  required.  A  cry  of  horror  was  raised  at 
this  iniquitous  sentence,  and  P.  Numitorius  and  L.  Icilius, 
the  uncle  and  the  lover  of  the  maiden,  came  forward  and 
spoke  with  such  firmness,  and  the  people  seemed  so  deter- 
mined, that  Appius  gave  way  and  deferred  the  decision  of 
the  matter  till  the  following  day,  leaving  Virginia  meantime 
in  the  hands  of  her  friends. 

It  was  the  design  of  the  tyrant  to  send  off  to  his  colleagues 
in  the  camp,  directing  them  to  confine  Virginius,  and  to 
surround  himself  next  day  with  a  strong  body  of  his  parti- 
sans and  their  clients,  and  carry  his  point  by  violence  if 
needful.  To  conceal  his  share  in  the  present  transaction, 
he  sat  some  time  longer  in  court ;  and  Icilius,  and  his 
friends,  who  having  seen  through  his  design  had  secretly 
directed  two  active  young  men  to  mount  and  ride  off  with 
all  speed  to  the  camp,  purposely  wore  away  the  time  in 
arranging  the  securities.  Their  messengers  therefore  ar- 
rived long  before  the  one  sent  by  Appius ;  and  Virginius, 
pretending  the  death  of  a  relative,  obtained  leave  of  absence 
and  came  to  Rome. 

At  daybreak  the  Forum  was  full  of  people  ;  Virginius  and 
his  daughter  in  the  garb  of  woe  came  among  them  imploring 
their  aid  :  Icilius  also  addressed  them  :  the  women  who  were 
with  them  wept  in  silence.  Appius  came  forth  attended  by 
an  armed  train  and  took  his  seat :  the  plaintiff,  as  instruct- 
ed, gently  reproached  him  with  not  having  done  him  justice 
the   day  before.     Appius,  without  listening  to  him  or  Vir* 


9S(  HISTORY   OF    ROME. 

ginius,  gave  sentence  that  Virginia  should  be  consigned  to 
the  claimant  till  a  judge  should  decide  the  matter.  This 
horrible  decree  filled  .all  with  silent  amazement.  M.  Clau- 
dius advanced  to  lay  hold  on  the  maiden ;  the  women 
and  their  friends  repelled  him.  Virginius  menaced  the  de- 
cemvir :  Appius  declared  that  he  knew  there  was  a  con- 
spiracy to  resist  the  government,  but  that  he  would  put  it 
down  by  force  ;  then,  *'  Go,  lictor !  "  he  thundered  forth,  "  dis- 
perse the  crowd,  and  make  way  for  the  master  to  take  his 
slave."  The  people  fell  back ;  Virginius,  seeing  no  hope, 
apologized  for  his  vehemence,  and  craved  permission  to 
take  his  daughter  and  her  nurse  aside  and  examine  them 
about  the  matter.  Leave  was  granted  ;  he  drew  them  near 
a  butcher's  stall,  and  snatching  up  a  knife  plunged  it  into 
his  daughter's  bosom.  Then  vi^aving  the  reeking  blade, 
"  With  this  blood,"  he  cried,  "  Appius,  I  devote  thee  and 
thy  head."  The  tyrant  called  out  to  seize  him :  but,  bran- 
dishing the  knife,  he  reached  the  gate,  no  one  daring  to  stop 
him,  and  proceeded  to  the  camp,  followed  by  a  number  of 
the  people. 

Icilius  and  Numitorius  harangued  the  people  over  the 
corpse  of  the  hapless  maiden  ;  Valerius  and  Horatius  joined 
in  the  call  to  freedom ;  the  lictors  were  repelled,  and  their 
fasces  broken.  Appius  vainly  called  on  the  patricians  to 
stand  by  him  ;  then  in  terror  for  his  life  he  covered  his  head, 
and  fled  into  an  adjacent  house.  His  obsequious  colleague 
Sp.  Oppius,  seeing  that  force  would  not  avail,  convened  the 
senate,  but  it  came  to  no  decision.  Some  zealous  patricians 
were  however  sent  to  the  camp  to  try  and  keep  the  army 
in  its  duty. 

But  vain  were  the  hopes  of  the  oligarchs ;  the  soldiers,  at 
the  call  of  Virginius,  plucked  up  their  standards,  marched 
for  Rome,  and  posted  themselves  on  the  Aventine.  The 
senate  sent  three  deputies,  charging  them  with  rebellion, 
and  offering  pardon  to  all  but  the  ringleaders  on  their  return 
to  their  duty.  They  were  told  to  send  Valerius  and  Horatius 
if  they  desired  an  answer.  These,  on  being  required  to  go, 
insisted  that  the  decemvirs  should  previously  abdicate  ;  this 
the  patricians,  still  relying  on  their  strength,  refused  to  al- 
low. Meantime  M.  Duilius,  a  former  tribune,  convinced  the 
people  that  as  long  as  they  staid  in  Rome  the  patricians 
would  never  believe  they  were  in  earnest ;  but  that  if,  like 
their  fathers,  they  retired  to  the  Sacred  Mount,  they  would 
soon  bring  them  to  reason.     Instantly  the  army  was  in  mo- 


ABOLITION    OF    THE    DECEMVIRATE.  97 

tion  ;  leaving  a  sufficient  number  to  guard  the  Aventine,  they 
marched  unmolested  across  the  city,  out  by  the  Colline  gate, 
and,  followed  by  numbers  of  men,  women,  and  children  from 
the  Esquiline  and  other  parts,  they  encamped  on  the  Sacred 
Mount.  Here  they  were  joined  by  the  other  army,  who 
h^d  revolted  at  the  call  of  Icilius  and  Numitorius.  They 
acknowledged  twenty  tribunes,  one  for  each  tribe,  as  their 
magistrates,  at  the  head  of  whom  were  M.  Oppius  and  Sex- 
tus  Manlius. 

The  patricians  seeing  themselves  left  nearly  alone  in  ^he 
city,  found  that  they  must  yield.  Valerius  anIFHoratius 
came  from  them  to  the  camp,  to  learn  the  demands  of  the 
plebeians.  Icilius  as  spokesman  required  that  the  tribunate 
and  the  right  of  appeal  should  be  restored  ;  that  no  one  should 
be  accounted  criminal  for  having  urged  the  people  to  the  se- 
cession ;  that  the  decemvirs  should  be  given  up  to  be  burnt 
alive.  The  deputies  replied,  that  the  two  first  conditions  were 
so  reasonable  that  they  should  have  proposed  them  them- 
selves ;  they  prayed  them  to  recede  from  the  last  demand. 
All  was  then  left  to  their  own  discretion ;  and  on  their  re- 
turn, the  senate  passed  a  decree,  that  the  decemvirs  should 
abdicate  and  consuls  be  chosen,  the  chief  pontiff  preside  at 
the  election  of  the  tribunes,  and  none  be  molested  for  their 
share  in  the  secession.  The  plebs  then  returned,  ascended 
the  capitol  in  arms,  *  and  thence  proceeded  to  the  Aventine. 

The  Pontiff  presiding,  the  people  chose  their  tribunes, 
among  whom  were,  as  they  well  merited,  Virginius,  Icilius, 
Numitorius,  and  Duilius.  On  the  motion  of  Duilius,  the 
plebs  then  ordered  that  the  interrex  should  hold  the  elec- 
tion of  patrician  consuls,f  with  the  right  of  appeal ;  and 
the  centuries  when  assembled  bestowed  the  consulate  on 
L.  Valerius  and  M.  Horatius.  These  popular  consuls  forth- 
with passed  laws  for  the  security  of  the  plebs,  the  senate 
and  curies  giving  a  reluctant  consent.  The  first  was  that 
a  measure  passed  by  the  tribes  should  be  of  equal  force  with 
one  passed  by  the  centuries,  and  if  confirmed  by  the  patri- 
cians, should  be  the  law  of  the  land;  the  second  menaced 
with  outlawry  whoever  procured  the  election  of  a  magis- 
strate  without  appeal ;  the  third  enacted  the  penalty  of  out- 
lawry  and   confiscation  of  property   against   any   one   who 

*  Cicero  for  Cornel.  1.  24  ;  probably  to  worship  the  gods.  For  a 
somewhat  similar  act  at  Athens,  see  History  of  Greece,  p.  303,  2d  edit. 

t  It  was  on  this  occasion  the  word  consul  was  first  employed.  (Zona- 
ras,  vii.  19.)     The  office  now  was  only  provisional. 

9  M 


98  HISTORY    OF    r6mE. 

injured  the  tribunes,  the  ©diles,  the  judges,  or  the  plebeian 
decemvirs.  The  legislation  was  terminated  by  a  bill  of  the 
tribune  Duilius  denouncing  death  by  fire  against  any  one 
who  should  leave  the  people  without  tribunes,  or  create  a 
magistrate  without  appeal. 

Vengeance  for,  Virginia  was  now  to  be  exacted.  Virginius 
summoned  Appius  and  his  client  Claudius  before  the  tri- 
bunal of  the  tribes.  Instead  of  seeking  safety  in  exile,  the 
haughty  decemvir  appeared  in  the  Forum  surrounded  by  a 
band  of  oatrician  youths.  Virginius  ordered  him  to  be 
seized  anfPlaid  in  chains ;  the  officer  approached ;  Appius 
claimed  the  protection  of  the  tribunes ;  no  one  stirred ;  he 
appealed  to  the  people  :  the  officer  dragged  him  away  to 
prison.  His  uncle,  C.  Claudius,  who  having  vainly  sought 
to  induce  him  and  his  colleagues  to  lay  down  their  office 
in  the  hands  of  the  senate,  had  retired  to  his  paternal  abode 
a^  Regillus,  came  to  Rome,  and  with  his  gentiles  and  clients 
all  in  mourning  went  about  the  Forum  supplicating  for  his 
release.  Virginius,  on  the  other  hand,  called  on  the  people 
to  remember  his  and  their  wrongs.  The  prayers  of  the 
Claudii  were  of  no  avail.  Appius  died  in  prison,  probably 
by  his  own  hand,  before  the  day  of  trial  came. 

Numitorius  then  impeached  the  plebeian  decemvir  Sp.  Op- 
pius  for  not  having  given  protection  to  Virginia.  A  veteran 
who  had  served  in  seven-and-twenty  campaigns  came  for 
ward  and  exhibited  the  marks  of  a  scourging  inflicted  on 
him  by  Oppius  without  a  cause.  He  too  was  sent  to  prison  . 
where  he  died  also  by  his  own  hand.  The  other  decemvirs 
were  suffered  to  go  into  exile,  but  their  property  was  confis 
cated.  M.  Claudius  was  tried  and  found  guilty ;  but  Vir- 
ginius remitting  the  capital  punishment,  he  was  allowed  to  go 
into  exile  to  Tibur.  "  The  manes  of  Virginia,  more  happy 
in  her  death  than  in  her  life,  having  roamed  through  so 
many  houses  exacting  vengeance,  rested  at  length  when  no 
guilty  person  remained." 

To  calm  the  alarms  of  the  patricians,  Duilius  now  declared 
prosecution  to  be  at  an  end,  and  that  no  onie  should  be 
molested  for  his  acts  during  the  decemvirate. 


I 


VICTORIES    OF    VALERIUS. AND    HORATIUS.  99 


CHAPTER  IV. 

VICTORIES    OF    VALERIUS    AND    HORATIUS. CANULEIAN     LAW. 

CENSORSHIP  AND  MILITARY    TRIBUNATE. FEUD  AT    AR- 

DEA. SP.  MiELIUS, ^QUIAN  AND  VOLSCIAN  WAR. CAP- 
TURE OF  FIDENiE. VOLSCIAN  WAR. MURDER  OF  POSTUMI- 

US    BY  HIS    OWN   SOLDIERS. VEIENTINE    WAR. CAPTURE 

Of  VEIL SIEGE  OF  FALERII.  EXILE  OF  CAMILLUS. 

When  all  was  settled  in  the  city  (305)  the  consuls  raised 
their  levies  for  the  ^quian  and  Sabine  campaigns.  The 
young  men  gave  their  names  readily,  the  veterans  came  for- 
ward as  volunteers.  Valerius  marched  to  Mount  Algidus; 
and  after  a  series  of  manoeuvres  to  raise  the  confidence  of 
his  men,  he  fell  on  and  defeated  the  iEquians,  and  took 
their  camp.  Similar  good  fortune  attended  Horatius,  who 
had  gone  against  the  Sabines ;  and  the  two  armies  returned 
to  Rome  at  the  same  time.  The  consuls,  as  was  the  usage, 
summoned  the  senate  to  the  temple  of  Mars  without  the 
Capene  gate,  to  give  an  account  of  their  campaign  and  de- 
mand a  triumph.  The  senate,  alleging  that  they  were  there 
under  the  control  of  the  soldiery,  adjourned  to  the  temple  of 
Apollo,  where  they  refused  them  the  honor,  as  being  trai- 
tors to  their  order.  The  plebs  hearing  of  this  indignity,  on 
the  motion  of  Icilius  overstepped  their  legal  powers,  and 
voted  them  a  triumph;  and  thus  the  patricians  by  their  ma- 
lignant folly  lost  one  of  their  privileges. 

The  victory  of  Horatius  over  the  Sabines  is  memorable  for 
having  put  an  end  to  the.  wars  of  this  people  with  Rome. 
For  a  century  and  a  half  amity  prevailed  between  the  two 
states,  grounded  probably  on  treaties,  of  which  no  memorial 
remains.  The  cause  which  inclined  the  Sabines  to  peace 
appears  to  have  been  the  emigration  of  their  warlike  youth, 
who  went  to  join  their  kindred  tribes  of  Samnium,  who  were 
now  beginning  to  appear  as  conquerors  in  Campania. 

Four  years  now  passed  away  without  any  event  of  much 
importance.  In  310,  nine  of  the  tribunes  concurred  in 
bringing  in  a  bill  for  electing  one  of  the  consuls  from  each 
order ;  and  C.  Canuleius,  the  other  tribune,  one  for  granting 
the  connubium,  that  is,  legalizing  marriage  between  the  two 
orders.  Both  these  propositions  gave  great  offence  to  the 
patricians ;  the  usual  expedient  of  foreign  war  and  levies 
was  recurred  to,  but  in   vain;  the  tribunes  were  resolute. 


100  HISTORY    OF    ROME. 

At  length  the  patricians  agreed  to  pass  the  Canuleian  law. 
For  their  good  sense  must  have  shown  the  more  prudent, 
that  the  patricians  as  the  smaller  body  were  the  real  suf- 
ferers by  the  prohibition  ;  and  in  fact  these  mixed  marriages 
had  all  along  prevailed,*  and  the  families  arising  from  them, 
and  therefore  belonging  to  the  plebeians,  were  the  most 
violent  enemies  of  the  patricians.  From  the  debate  on  this 
subject  we  learn  that  the  tribunes  were  now  admitted  into 
the  senate-house,  but  without  the  right  of  voting.  Their 
seat  was  on  benches  before  the  open  door.t 

The  other  bill  was  altered,  so  as  to  allow  of  the  consuls 
being  taken  from  the  two  orders  without  distinction. 
Though  this  was  a  concession  to  the  patricians,  it  did  not 
content  them.  Scenes  of  violent  altercation  took  place : 
the  heads  of  the  senate  held  secret  deliberations,  in  which 
C.  Claudius  is  said  to  have  actually  proposed  the  murder 
of  the  tribunes ;  but  even  to  the  two  Quinctii  this  seemed 
too  violent  a  course,  and  it  was  resolved  to  come  to  an  ac- 
commodation with  them. 

By  this  compact  the  constitution  assumed  a  new  form; 
the  decemvirate  was  resolved  into  its  three  component  parts, 
which  were  separated  from  each  other  —  the  censorship,  the 
quaestorship,  and  the  military  tribunate  with  consular  author- 
ity, —  of  which  the  former  two  were  reserved  for  the  patri- 
cians, the  one  to  be  conferred  by  the  curies,  the  other  by  the 
centuries ;  the  tribunate  was  open  to  both  orders,  and  came 
in  place  of  the  consulate.  The  business  of  the  censors,  who 
were  two  in  number  and  were  elected  every  five  years,  was 
to  manage  the  revenues  of  the  state,  and  to  keep  a  registry 
of  the  citizens  according  to  their  ranks  and  orders.  They  let 
the  tolls  and  customs  and  other  taxes,  and  they  enrolled 
members  in  the  senate,  the  equestrian  order,  and  the  tribes, 
or  excluded  such  as  were  unworthy.  The  power  of  the 
censors  was  therefore  very  considerable. 

By  the  power  which  the  censorship  gave  them  of  packing, 
as  we  may  term  it,  the  centuries,  the  patricians  were  in  gen- 
eral able  to  keep  the  military  tribunate  in  their  own  order  ; 
nevertheless  at  the  first  election,  L.  Atilius  Longus,  one  of 
three  chosen,  was  a  plebeian.  On  account  of  this  it  was  pre- 
tended that  the  election  had  been  irregular,  and  they  were 
obliged  to  resign  before  the  end  of  three  months.     It  is  not 

•  Hence  so  many  patrician  and  plebeian  families  of  the  same  name. 
f  Valerius  Maximos,  ii.  2,  7. 


4 


FEUD    AT   AKDEA.  101 


unlikely  that  they  may  have  refused  to  resign,  for  T.  Quinc- 
tius  was  created  dictator,  who,  having  held  a  consular  elec- 
tion, laid  down  his  office  on  the  thirteenth  day. 

In  the  year  309,  the  people  of  Ardea  and  Aricia,  .who  had 
been  long  disputing  about  the  lands  of  Corioli,  which  had 
been  lying  waste  since  the  time  of  its  ruin  by  the  Volscians, 
agreed  to  submit  their  differences  to  the  decision  of  the 
Romans.  The  curies  (concilium  popuK  *)  adjudged  that  the 
disputed  lands  belonged  to  neither  of  them,  but  had  devolved 
to  the  Roman  people.  We  know  not  how  this  decision  was 
received,  but  in  311  an  alliance  was  .made  between"  the  Ro- 
man patricians  and  the  corresponding  party,  or  the  old  Rutu- 
lian  houses,  at  Ardea,  who  wete  on  ill  terms  with  their  plebs, 
with  whom  they  came  to  open  war  the  following  year.  The 
occasion  was  this :  a  beautiful  plebeian  maiden  was  wooed  by 
one  of  her  own  order,  and  also  by  a  member  of  the  houses  ,• 
her  guardians,  for  she  had  no  father,  were  in  favor  of  the 
former;  her  mother,  urged  by  female  vanity,  of  the  latter. 
The  affair  at  length  came  before  the  magistrates,  who,  though 
the  right  to  dispose  of  their  ward  plainly  lay  with  the  guard- 
ians, decided  in  favor  of  the  patrician.  The  guardians  car- 
ried the  maiden  by  force  from  her  mother's  ;  the  patricians 
took  up  arms  ;  a  violent  fray  arose,  and  the  plebs  was  driven 
out  of  the  town  :  they  encamped  on  an  adjoining  hill,  whence 
they  ravaged  the  lands  of  their  enemies ;  the  artisans  came 
out  of  the  town  and  joined  them,  and  Cloelius,  an  ^quian 
general,  led  a  body  of  troops  to  their  aid.  The  houses  called 
on  their  Roman  allies,  and  the  consul,  M.  Geganius,  came 
and  circumvallated  the  ^quian  army  that  was  investing  the 
town.  The  iEquians  had  to  surrender  their  general,  and  to 
pass  under  the  yoke.t  To  strengthen  the  Rutulian  houses, 
colonists  were  sent  thither  from  Rome. 

All  was  now  quiet  at  Rome,  till  in  315  a  dreadful  famine, 
in  consequence  of  the  failure  of  the  crops,  came  on.  L. 
Minucius,  who  was  created  prefect  of  the  corn  market,  made 
every  exertion  to  purchase  corn,  but  could  only  obtain  some 
small  supplies  from  Etruria  :  all  persons  were  obliged  to 
deliver  up  what  corn  they  had  beyond  a  month's  consump- 
tion ;  the  allowance  of  the  slaves  was  diminished  ;  the  corn 
dealers  were  prosecuted  as  regraters  and  engrossers.     Still 


*  So  it  is  expressly  called  by  Livy,ii.  71.     It  could  not  have  been  the 
plebs,  who  had  nothing  to  do  with  the  public  land. 
\  See  above,  p.  90. 
9* 


|P^ 


102  HISTORY    OF   ROME. 

the  famine  was  eo  sore  that  numbers  of  the  plebeians  threw 
themselves  into  the  Tiber. 

In  this  universal  distress,  Sp.  Maelius,  a  wealthy  plebeian 
knight,  made  extensive  purchases  of  corn  in  Etruria,  which 
he  sold  at  low  prices,  or  distributed  gratis  to  the  poor  of  his 
order.  This  gained  him  great  favor  ;  the  patricians  became 
suspicious  of  him ;  and  Minucius,  it  is  said,  accused  him  to 
the  consuls  of  the  next  year  (316)  of  designs  against  the 
government :  the  senate  sat  a  whole  day  in  secret  delibera- 
tion ;  the  Capitol  and  other  strong  posts  were  garrisoned ; 
and  L.  duinctius  Cincinnatus,  now  eighty  years  of  age,  was 
created  dictator. 

Next  morning  the  dictator  entered  the  Forum  with  an 
armed  train,  and  set  up  his  tribunal.  At  his  command, 
C.  Servilius  Ahala,  the  master  of  the  horse,  went  to  summon 
before  him  Maelius,  who  was  present.  MsbUus  hesitated  :  the 
officers  advanced  to  seize  him ;  he  snatched  up  a  butcher's 
knife  to  defend  himself,  and  ran  back  into  the  crowd. 
Ahala,  sword  in  hand,  and  followed  by  a  band  of  armed 
patrician  youths,  rushed  after  him ;  the  people  gave  way,  and 
be  ran  Maelius  through  the  body.  The  murder,  for  such  it 
undoubtedly  was,  was  applauded  by  the  venerable  dictator.* 
The  house  of  Maelius  was  pulled  down,  and  its  site  left 
desolate,  (the  ^quimelium :)  and  posterity,  following  the 
traditions  of  the  Q,uinctian  and  Servilian  houses,  had  no 
doubt  of  his  guilt,  or  of  the  public  virtue  of  Ahdla.  Their 
contemporaries,  however,  thought  diflferently.  When  the 
terror  of  the  dictatorship  was  removed,  three  tribunes  de- 
manded vengeance  for  the  death  of  Maelius ;  an  insurrection 
broke  out,  Ahala  had  to  go  into  exile,  and  the  patricians 
were  obliged  to  allow  the  election  of  military  tribunes,  to 
appease  the  people. 

The  year  317  was  distinguished  by  the  Revolt  of  Fidenae. 
This  town,  which  lay  five  miles  up  the  Tiber,  beyond  the 
Anio,  had  received  a  colony  about  sixty  years  before :  a  part 
of  the  colonists  were  now  expelled,  a  part  probably  shared 
in  the  revolt.  An  alliance  was  formed  with  the  Veientines 
and  Faliscans,  and  their  united  forces  appeared  more  than 
once  before  the  Colline  gate.  Dictators  were  appointed 
against  them,  and  in  320  the  dictator  A.  Servilius   Priscus 


*  Plutarch  (Brutus,  1)  gives  a  novel  view  of  the  act  of  AhA^a.     He 
is  with  him  another  Brutus. 


€ 


m, 


VOLSCIAN   WAR.  103 

conquered  the  town.  The  ringleaders  were  beheaded,  but 
no  further  penalty  was  inflicted  on  the  people. 

In  322  the  pestilence  again  spread  its  ravages  at  Rome  :  and 
in  324  the  truce  with  the  ^quians  being  expired,  they  and 
a  part  of  the  Volscians  raised  two  armies  of  select  troops, 
bound  by  oath  to  conquer  or  die,  and  encamped  on  the  Algi- 
dus.  In  this  emergency  the  senate  resolved  to  create  a  dicta- 
tor ;  the  consuls,  however,  refused  to  proclaim  him,  and  the 
senate  having  appealed  to  the  tribunes,  they  forced  the  con- 
suls by  a  menace  of  imprisonment  to  submit.  The  person 
appointed  was  A.  Postumius  Tubertus. 

The  dictator,  aware  of  the  magnitude  of  the  danger,  called 
out  all  the  forces  of  the  state.  Four  armies  were  formed ; 
one,  the  city  legions,  was  left  at  Rome  under  the  consul  C. 
Julius  ;  the  reserve,  under  the  master  of  the  horse,  L.  Julius, 
lay  without  the  walls.  The  dictator  and  the  consul  T.  Quinc- 
tius  marched  with  the  remainder  to  the  Algidus,  where  they 
were  joined  by  the  Latins  and  Hernicans.  They  encamped 
within  a  mile  of  the  enemy,  the  consul  on  the  road  to  Lanu- 
vium,  the  dictator  on  that  to  Tusculum.  Skirmishes  took 
place  daily,  in  one  of  which  the  dictator's  son  having  left  the 
post  assigned  him  to  engage  the  enemy,  was  on  his  return 
victorious,  put  to  death  by  his  inexorable  sire  for  his  breach 
of  orders.  At  length  the  enemy  made  a  combined  attack  by 
night  on  the  consul's  camp;  but  meantime  that  of  the 
iEquians  was  stormed  by  some  cohorts  sent  against  it  by  the 
dictator,  who  himself  came  by  a  circuitous  route  into  the 
rear  of  those  who  were  assailing  the  consul's  camp.     The  ' 

troops  of  the  dictator  and  the  consul  attacked  them  simul- 
taneously ;  at  break  of  day  the  exhausted  foe  gave  way  ; 
a  brave  man  named  Vettius  Messius  placing  himself  at  their 
head,  they  broke  through  and  made  their  way  to  the  Volscian. 
camp,  which  still  was  safe  ;  but  they  were  soon  followed  and 
surrounded  there  also  :  the  camp  was  stormed,  quarter  was  , 

given  to  those  who  threw  down  their  arms,  but  all  were  sold      jH^' 
except  the  senators.    The  dictator  having  triumphed  laiddown      \' 
his  office.     The  following  year  a  truce  for  eight  years  was      '  .^ 
made  with  the  ^quians.     Among  the  Volscians  there  was  a 
peace  and  a  war  party,  and  the  former  seems  to  have  been  the 
stronger,  as  during  these  eight  years  all  was  quiet  on  this  side. 

In  327,  a  conspiracy  being  discovered  at  Fidenae,  the 
heads  of  it  were  relegated  to  Ostia;  more  colonists  were  sent 
to  Fidenae,  and  the  lands  of  those  who  had  been  executed  or 
had  fallen  in  war  were  given  to  them.     This  year  also  was 


104  HISTORY   OF    ROME. 

one  of  pestilence.  The  next  year  (328)  war  was  formally 
declared  against  Veii,  on  which  occasion  a  further  progress 
was  made  in  the  constitution,  as  the  tribunes  succeeded  in 
having  the  question  brought  before  the  centuries,  instead  of 
being  decided  by  the  senate  alone.  One  good  result  of  this 
was  that  the  levies  were  never  again  obstructed. 

Consular  tribunes  being  elected  for  329,  they  led  their 
forces  against  Veii,  but  from,  their  want  of  concord  they  gave 
the  enemy  an  opportunity  of  falling  on  and  routing  them. 
Mamercus  ^Emilius  was  immediately  made  dictator,  and  he 
named  A.  Cornelius  Cossus,  one  of  the  tribunes,  his  master 
of  the  horse.  The  Veientines,  elate  with  their  success,  sent 
to  invite  volunteers  from  all  parts  of  Etruria,  and  they  tried 
to  induce  the  Fidenates  to  revolt  once  more.  Envoys  were 
despatched  from  Rome  to  warn  them  of  their  duty ;  but  the 
envoys  were  detained  in  custody,  and  the  revolt  resolved  on. 
Lars  Tolumnius,  the  Veientine  king,  led  his  army  over  the 
Tiber,  and  encamped  before  FidenaB.  He  was  playing  at  dice 
when  the  Fidenates  sent  to  inquire  what  should  be  done  with 
the  Roman  envoys.  Without  interrupting  his  game,  he  cried^ 
"  Put  them  to  death  !  "  His  mandate  was  executed  ;  the  col- 
onists were  butchered  at  the  same  time,  and  all  hopes  of  pardon 
thus  cut  off.  The  Ronl^  army  soon  appeared  to  exact  ven- 
geance ;  the  skilful  dispositions  of  the  dictator  and  the  valor 
of  his  troops  gained  a  complete  victory.  Lars  Tolumnius 
fell  by  the  hand  of  the  master  of  the  horse,  who  dedicated 
his  spolia  opima,  the  first  since  the  days  of  Romulus,  in  the 
temple  of  Jupiter  Feretrius.  Fidenae  was  taken,  its  inhabit- 
ants massacred  or  sold  for  skves,  and  it  dwindled  into  utter 
insignificance. 

A  trtice  with  Veii  for  twenty,  and  with  the  ^quians  for 
three  (cyclic)  years  was  the  only  event  of  the  year  330.  In 
331,  as  territory  had  been  gained  in  the  late  wars,  the  trib- 
unes demanded  that  assignments  out  of  it  should  be  made  to 
the  plebeians,  and  the  tithe  be  levied  off  what  was  possessed 
by  the  patricians  for  the  payment  of  the  troops. 

In  332  the  Volscians  took  up  arms,  being  convinced  from 
the  growing  power  of  Rome  that  they  must  either  make  a 
bold  and  decisive  effort,  or  part  with  their  independence. 
Their  troops  were  numerous  and  well  disciplined.  The  con- 
sul, C.  Sempronius  Atratinus,  who  commanded  the  Roman 
army,  evinced  neither  skill  nor  energy  :  the  soldiers  had  no 
confidence  either  in  him  or  themselves.  In  the  battle  they 
were  giving  way,  when  Sex.  Tempanius,  a  plebeian  knight. 


VOLSCIAN     WAR.  105 

calling  on  the  horsemen  to  dismount  and  follow  him,  and 
raising  his  spear  as  a  standard,  advanced  against  the  foe,  who, 
at  the  command  of  their  leader,  gave  way  and  let  them 
through,  and  then  closed  to  cut  them  off  from  the  Roman 
army.  The  consul  seeing  his  cavalry  thus  isolated  redoubled 
his  efforts.  Tempanius,  having  vainly  essayed  to  break 
through  again,  retired  to  an  eminence,  where  a  part  of  the  Vol- 
scians  surrounded  him.  Night  ended  the  conflict :  each  army, 
thinking  itself  conquered,  abandoned  its  camp  and  wounded, 
and  retired  to  the  mountains.  In  the  morning  Tempanius 
and  his  comrades,  finding  the  two  camps  deserted,  returned  to 
Rome,  where  their  appearance  caused  great  joy,  as  the  whole 
army  was  supposed  to  be  lost.  The  tribunes  were  loud  in 
their  accusation  of  the  consul,  but  Tempanius  spoke  in  his 
favor ;  and  when  next  year  (333)  he  and  three  of  his  brother 
officers  were  elected  tribunes,  and  one  of  their  c||ieagues 
impeached  Sempronius  before  the  people,  they  protected  him, 
and  induced  the  prosecutor  to  forego  the  charge. 

During  the  next  seventeen  years  (334 — 351)  the  internal 
disputes  respecting  the  public  land  continued,  and  the  pa- 
tricians, by  their  old  tactics  of  gaining  a  majority  of  the  trib- 
unes to  their  side,  prevented  any  thing  being  done.  But  the 
plebeians  were  slowly  and  surely  gaining  strength.  In  334 
the  consuls  proposed  that  the  number  of  the  quaestors  of  the 
treasury,  which  had  been  two,  should  be  doubled ;  the  trib- 
unes insisted  that  the  new  places  should  belong  to  the  ple- 
beians, and  it  was  agreed  that  they  should  be  chosen  promis- 
cuously out  of  both  orders.  This,  as  in  the  case  of  the  con- 
sular tribunate,  was  no  immediate  gain  to  the  plebeians,  but 
they  trusted  to  the  sure  operation  of  time.  Henceforth  a 
quaestor  attended  every  army  to  superintend  the  sale  of  the 
booty,  the  produce  of  which  was  either  divided  among  the 
soldiers  or  brought  into  the  JErarium,  the  common  treasury 
of  the  state,  not,  as  heretofore,  into  the  Publicum  of  the  pa- 
tricians. 

The  wars  with  the  ^Equians  and  Volscians  were  con- 
tinued also  throughout  this  period;  but  the  power  of  these 
peoples  was  greatly  crippled  by  the  conquests  which  the 
Samnites  were  now  making  on  their  southern  frontier.  In 
337  the  iEquians  and  the  Lavicans  entered  and  ravaged  the 
lands  of  Tusculum,  and  then  encamped  on  the  Algidus.  An 
army  ^was  sent  against  them,  which  sustained  a  defeat.  CI. 
Servilius  Priscus  was  then  created  dictator :  he  routed  the 
enemies,  took  their  camp,  stormed  the  town  of  Lavici,  and 


106  HISTORY   OP    ROME. 

then  laid  down  his  office  on  the  eighth  day.  In  340  the  for- 
merly Latin,  now  iEquian,  town  of  Bolae  was  taken,  on  which 
Occasion  the  Roman  soldiers  committed  a  crime  unknown  to 
their  history  for  centuries  after.  ^ 

The  consular  tribune  M.  Ppstumius,  who  commanded,  had 
promised  them  the  plunder  of  the  town,  but  when  it  was 
taken  he  broke  his  word.  He  had  also  been  summoned  by 
his  colleagues  to  Rome,  where  the  tribunes  were  clamoring 
for  a  division  of  the  conquered  land ;  and  when  the  tribune 
Sextius  spoke  of  the  rights  of  the  soldiers,  *'  Woe  to  mine," 
said  he,  **  if  they  do  not  keep  quiet!"  These  words  soon 
made  their  way  to  the  camp,  and  still  further  exasperated  the 
men.  A  tumult  broke  out  when  the  quaestor  was  selling  the 
booty,  in  which  he  was  struck  by  a  stope.  Postumius  sat  in 
judgment  on  this  offence,  and  ordered  the '  most  severe  pun- 
ishmen^fj.  The  men  became  enraged,  and  losing  all  respect 
stoned  theji  general  to  death.  This  event  was  advantageous 
to  the  oligarchs,  as  the  plebeians  had  to  allow  of  the  election 
of  consuls  for  the  next  year,  (342,)  and  to  permit  them  to 
institute  an  inquiry  into  the  death  of  Postumius.  It  was  con- 
ducted with  great  moderation :  the  condemned  terminated 
their  lives  by  their  own  hands. 

In  347  the  Antiates,  seeing  the  danger  which  menaced 
their  kindred,  engaged  in  the  war.  A  combined  army  en- 
camped before  the  walls  of  Antium,  where  it  was  attacked 
and  totally  defeated  by  a  Roman  army,  led  by  the  dictator 
P.  Cornelius.  The  campaign  of  349  was  more  important ; 
three  Roman  armies  took  the  field :  one,  led  by  the  consu- 
lar tribune  L.  Valerius,  approached  Antium  ;  his  colleague 
P.  Cornelius  advanced  with  another  against  Ecetr a  ;  while 
N.  Fabius  with  the  third  laid  siege  to  Tarracina,  which 
lay  on  the  side  of  a  steep  hill  over  the  Pomptine  marshes. 
A  part  of  the  army  having  gotten  to  the  summit  of  the  hill 
over  the  town,  it  was  forced  to  surrender :  the  plunder  was 
divided  among  the  three  armies,  and  a  colony  sent  to  the 
town.  ' 

A  war,  the  last,  with  Veii  succeeded.  At  the  expiration 
of  the  truce  the  Romans  demanded  satisfaction  for  the  crinte 
^f  Tolumnius;  the  Veientines,  who  feared  war,  applied  for 
aid  to  the  other  peoples  of  Etruria,  and  various  congresses 
were  held  at  the  temple  of  Voltumna  to  consider  the  matter. 
Aid,  however,  was  refused,  perhaps  through  jealousy,  more 
probably  in  consequence  of  the  pressure  of  a  foe  soon  to 
appear  on  the  north  of  the  Apennines;  it  may  also  have  been 


VEIENTINE    WAR.  107 

thought  that  the  strength  of  its  walls  would  enable  Veil  to 
resist  any  attack  made  on  it  by  the  Romans. 

The  city  of  Veii,  which  lay  twelve  miles  from  Rome,  was 
encompassed  by  strong  walls  four  miles  in  circuit.  The 
Tuscans,  who  possessed  it,  ruled  over  a  population  of  sub- 
jects and  serfs  much  like  the  Spartans  in  GrFeece ;  their  own 
numbers  were  small,  they  could  not  rely  on  their  subjects, 
and  it  was  only  the  aid  of  volunteers  from  other  parts  of 
Etruria  that  enabled  them  at  any  time  to  wage  war  with 
advantage  against  the  Romans. 

The  Romans,  on  their  side,  saw  that  though  they  might 
ravage  the  lands  of  Veii,  yet  so  long  as  the  town  remained 
unconquered,  retaliation  would  be  easy ;  whereas  could  it  be 
conquered,  the  advance  of  the  power  of  Rome  might  be 
rapid  and  permanent.  This,  however,  could  only  be  effected 
by  keeping  a  force  constantly  in  the  field;  but  to  do  this  it 
would  be  necessary  to  recur  to  the  old  practice  of  giving  the 
troops  pay,  for  which  purpose  the  tithe  must  be  paid  honestly 
off  the  domain-land.  This  the  senate,  rising  above  the  paltry, 
narrow  considerations  which  used  to  influence  it,  resolved 
should  be  done,  and  pay  be  given  to  the  infantry  as  well  as 
the  cavalry ;  and  as  mutual  concessions  were  usually  made 
between  the  orders,  the  people  seem  to  have  agreed  that  the 
veto  of  one  tribune  —  not  that  of  the  majority,  as  heretofore, 
in  the  college —  should  suffice  to  stop  the  proceedings  of  the 
tribunes,  the  patricians  reckoning  that  they,  would  be  able, 
in  most  cases,  to  gain  over  one  of  them.  War,  therefore, 
against  Veii  was  declared  in  the  year  349. 

The  campaigns  of  the  years  350  and  351  seem  to  have 
been  little  more  than  plundering  excursions  into  the  Vei- 
entine  territory;  forts  (castella)  like  that  on  the  Cremera 
were  raised  and  garrisoned  to  prevent  the  cultivation  of 
the  lands  and  the  passage  of  supplies  to  Veii.  In  the  third 
year  (352)  siege  was  laid  to  the  town,  a  mound  advanced 
against  its  walls,  and  the  gallery  under  which  the  battering 
rams  were  to  play  had  nearly  reached  the  wall,  when  the 
besieged  made  a  sally,  drove  off  the  besiegers,  burned  the 
gallery  and  the  sides  of  the  mound,  which  they  then  levelled. 
The  news  of  this  reverse  only  stimulated  the  Romans  to 
greater  exertions ;  the  knights  to  whom  no  horses  could  be 
assigned  offered  to  serve  with  their  own ;  a  like  zeal  was 
manifested  by  the  classes,  aiid  the  campaign  of  353  was 
opened  by  the  appearance  of  a  gallant  army  under  the 
consular  tribunes  L.  Virginius  and  M'.  Sergius  before  Veii. 


tUs 


HISTORY   OF   ROME. 


The  Veieniiries  on  their  side  were  aided  by  their  neighbors 
the  Capenates  and  Faliscans,  who  now  saw  that  the  danger 
was  a  common  one. 

The  Roman  generals,  who  were  at  enmity  with  each  other, 
had  separate  can^ps ;  that  of  Sergius,  which  was  the  smaller, 
was  suddenly  attacked  by  the  allies,  while  the  Veientines 
made  a  sally  from  the  town  ;  the  pride  of  Sergius  would  not 
let  him  send  for  assistance  to  the  other  camp ;  while  Vir- 
ginius,  pretending  to  believe  that  if  his  colleague  wanted  aid 
he  would  apply  for  it,  kept  his  troops  under  arms,  but  would 
not  stir.  At  length  the  camp  of  Sergius  was  forced  :  a  few 
fled  to  the  other  camp,  himself  and  the  greater  number  to 
Rome.  The  other  camp  had  then  to  be  abandoned  ;  and  the 
whole  of  the  tribunes  were  obliged  to  lay  down  their  office 
on  account  of  the  misconduct  of  Virginius  and  Sergius. 
Among  those  chosen  to  succeed  them  was  M.  Furius  Ca- 
mill us,  afterwards  so  famous,  whose  name  now  appears  for 
the  first  time.  A  large  force  was  brought  into  the  field,  with 
which  Gamillus  and  one  of  his  colleagues  ravaged  the  lands 
of  the  Capenates  and  Faliscans  up  to  the  walls  of  their  cities. 

The  internal  history  of  this  year  (354)  was  remarkable 
for  a  bold  attempt  of  the  oligarchs  to  get  two  of  themselves 
chosen  into  the  college  of  the  tribunes  of  the  people.*  They 
were,  however,  utterly  foiled ;  the  college  was  firm  and  unan- 
imous :  a  heavy  fine  was  imposed  on  Sergius  and  Virginius 
for  their  ill  conduct,  and  an  agrarian  law  was  passed,  which 
put  an  end  to  the  frauds  by  which  the  payment  of  the  tithe 
had  been  eluded.  The  next  year  (355),  the  patricians  were 
forced  to  allow  one  plebeian  among  the  military  tribunes, 
and  the  following  year  (356)  all  but  the  prefect  of  the  city 
were  plebeians. 

A  severe  winter  was  succeeded  by  a  pestilential  summer; 
still  the  armies  took  the  field,  and  formed,  as  in  354,  a  double 
camp  before  Veii,  The  Faliscans  and  Capenates  repeated 
the  manoeuvre  which  had  succeeded  in  that  year ;  but  the 
Roman  generals  were  at  perfect  amity,  and  they  met  with  a 
complete  defeat.  The  territories  of  Capena  and  Falerii  were 
ravaged  again  the  next  year,  and  in  358  the  Tarquinians, 
who liad  taken  arms  and  made  an  incursion  into  the  Roman 
territory,  were  waylaid  on  their  return  and  routed  with  great 
loss.     In  359,  the  last  year  of  the  war,  the  tribunes  being 

*  For  the  patricians  were  now  in  the  tribes.  It,  however,  continued 
to  be  the  rule  that  none  but  a  plebeian  could  be  a  tribune. 


I 


CAi>TURE    OF    VEIL  109 

all  plebeians,  two  of  them,  L.  Titinius  ahd  Cn.  Genucius,  in- 
vaded the  lands  of  Capena  and  Falerii ;  but  conducting  them- 
selves incautiously,  they  met  with  a  defeat.  Genucius  fell 
in  the  action,  Titinius  broke  through  the  enemy  and  got  off, 
the  troops  before  Veii  were  hardly  restrained  from  flight,, 
and  Rome  was  filled  with  alarm.  Camillus  was  now  raised 
to  the  dictatorship;  he  exerted  himself  to  restore  confidence 
and  discipline  to  the  troops :  the  contingents  of  the  Latins 
and  Hernicans  arrived,  the  dictator  took  the  field,  and  hav- 
ing given  the  Faliscans  and  Capenates  a  complete  defeat  at 
Nepete,  he  sat  down  before  Veii  with  a  numerous  army. 

So  far  the  narrative  of  the  Veientine  war  is  historical ;  in 
what  is  to  come  a  poetic  tale,  of  the  same  kind  with  those 
we  have  already  noticed,  has  usurped  the  place  of  the  sim- 
ple narrative  of  the  annals. 

Various  portents  announced  the  fall  of  Veii.  Among 
others  the  waters  of  the  Al ban  lake  rose  in  the  midst  of  the 
dog-days,  without  a  fall  of  rain  or  any  other  natural  cause, 
to  such  a  height  as  to  overflow  and  deluge  the  surrounding 
country.  Fearing  deceit  from  the  Etruscan  augurs,  the 
senate  sent  a  solemn  embassy  to  consult  the  Pythian  oracle. 
The  news  reached  the  camp  before  Veii,  and  as  there  was 
then  a  truce,  and  those  on  both  sides  who  were  previously 
acquainted  were  in  the  habit  of  conversing  together,  it  also 
came  to  the  knowledge  of  the  Veientines.  Impelled  by  des- 
tiny a  soothsayer  mocked  the  efforts  of  the  Romans,  telling 
them  that  the  sacred  books  declared  they  should  never  take 
Veii.  A  Roman  centurion  some  days  after,  pretending  that 
a  prodigy  had  fallen  out  in  his  house  which  he  was  anxious 
to  expiate,  invited  the  aruspex  to  meet  him  in  the  plain 
between  the  town  and  the  Roman  camp.  Seduced  by  the 
prospect  of  the  proffered  reward  he  came  out ;  the  centurion 
drew  him  near  the  Roman  lines,  and  then  suddenly,  being 
young  and  vigorous,  dragged  the  feeble  old  man  into  the 
camp.  He  was  instantly  transferred  to  Rome;  by  menaces 
the  senate  forced  him  to  tell  the  truth,  and  he  declared  that 
the  books  of  fate  announced  that,  so  long  as  the  lake  kept 
overflowing,  Veii  could  not  be  taken,  and  that,  if  its  waters 
reached  the  sea,  Rome  would  perish.  The  envoys  arrived 
soon  after  from  Delphi  with  a  similar  reply,  the  god  prom- 
ising the  conquest  of  Veii  if  they  spread  the  waters  over 
the  fields,  and  demanding  a  tithe  of  the  spoil.  Forthwith 
a  tunnel  was  commenced  in  the  side  of  the  mountain  to 
draw  off"  the  water  of  the  lake  and  distribute  it  over  the  ad- 
10 


110  lIlSTORT   OF   ROME. 

jacent  fields.*  It  advanced  rapidly :  the  Veientines,  seeing 
their  impending  fate,  sent  an  embassy  to  sue  for  favor; 
mercy  was  unrelentingly  refused :  the  chief  of  the  embassy 
then  warned  the  Romans  to  beware,  for  the  same  oracles 
foretold  that  the  fall  of  Veii  would  be  followed  by  the  cap- 
ture of  Rome  by  the  Gauls.  He  warned  in  vain,  no  mercy 
was  to  be  obtained. 

Meantime  the  work  by  which  Veii  was  to  be  taken  went 
on  :  the  Romans  appeared  to  be  waiting  the  slow  effects  of 
a  blockade  ;  but  their  army  was  divided  into  six  bands,  each 
of  which  wrought  for  six  hours,  by  turns,  at  a  mine,  which 
was  to  lead  into  the  temple  of  Juno  on  the  citadel.  Whien 
it  was  completed,  Camillus  sent  to  inquire  of  the  senate 
what  should  be  done  with  the  spoil.  Ap.  Claudius  advised 
to  sell  it,  and  reserve  the  proceeds  for  the  pay  of  the  army 
on  future  occasions ;  P.  Licinius,  a  plebeian  military  trib- 
une, insisted  that  it  should  be  divided  not  merely  among 
the  troops  before  Veii,  but  among  all  the  citizens,  as  all  had 
made  sacrifices.  It  was  so  decreed ;  and  on  proclamation 
being  made,  old  and  young  flocked, to  the  camp. 

When  the  waters  of  the  Alban  lake  were  dispersed  over  the 
fields  and  the  mine  completed,  Camillus,  having  made  a  vow 
to  celebrate  great  games  to  the  gods,  and  dedicate  a  temple 
to  Mother  Matuta,  and  also  promised  high  honors  to  Queen 
Juno,  the  patron  goddess  of  Veii,  and  a  tenth  of  the  spoil  to 
the  Pythian  Apollo,  entered  the  mine  at  the  head  of  his  co- 
horts. At  the  same  moment  the  horns  sounded  for  the  as- 
sault ;  scaling-ladders  were  advanced.  The  citizens  hastened 
to  man,  their  walls;  their  king  was  sacrificing  in  the  temple 
of  Juno ;  the  aruspex,  when  he  'saw^  the  victim,  cried  out 
that  those  who  offered  it  to  the  goddess  would  be  the  vic- 
tors. The  Romans,  who  were  beneath,  hearing  this,  burst 
forth ;  Camillus  seized  and  offered  the  flesh ;  his  men  rushed 
down  from  the  citadel  and  opened  the  gates  to  those  with- 
out ;  and  thus  Veii,  like  Troy,  was  taken  by  stratagem,  after 
a  ten  years'  siege.t 

The  spoil  was  immense,  and  no  part  of  it,  except  the 
price  of  those  who  had  been  made  prisoners  before  orders 

*  The  tunnel  was  actually  made  at  this  time,  though  we  are  not  to 
suppose  it  had  any  thing  to  do  with  the  fate  of  Veii.  It  is  6000  feet 
long,  3^  wide,  and  high  enough  for  a  man  to  walk  in  it,  wrought  through 
the  lava,  which  is  as  hard  as  iron. 

t  The  mine  is  as  evident  a  fiction  as  the  Trojan  horse.  In  all  ancient 
history  there  is  no  authentic  account  of  a  town  taken  in  this  way. 


CAPTURE    OF    VEIL  111 

were  given  to  spare  the  unarmed,  and  who  therefore  were 
sold,  was  brought  into  the  treasury.  It  is  related  that  as 
Camillus  looked  from  the  citadel  down  on  the  magnificent 
city  he  had  won,  he  called  to  mind  the  envy  with  which 
the  gods  were  believed  to  regard  human  prosperity,  and 
prayed  that  it  might  fall  as  lightly  as  possible  on  himself 
and  the  Roman  people ;  as  he  turned  round  to  worship,  he 
stumbled  and  fell,  and  he  fondly  deemed  this  to  have  ap- 
peased the  envy  of  the  Immortals.  He  dared  then  to  enter 
Rome  in  triumph,  in  a  car  drawn  by  white  horses,  like  that 
of  Jupiter  and  Sol,  {Sun,)  a  thing  never  witnessed  before  or 
after  ;  and  the  wrath  of  Heaven  fell  erelong  on  himself  and 
the  city. 

The  statue  of  dueen  Juno  was  now  to  be  removed  to 
Rome,  according  to  the  dictator's  vow ;  but  as  only  a  priest 
of  a  certain  hpuse  could  touch  it,  the  Romans  were  filled 
with  awe.  At  length  a  body  of  chosen  knights,  having  pu- 
rified themselves  and  put  on  white  robes,  entered  the  tem- 
ple. The  goddess  being  asked  if  she  was  willing  to  go  to 
Rome,  her  assenting  voice  was  distinctly  heard,  and  the 
statue  of  its  own  accord  moved  with  those  who  conveyed 
it  out. 

The  tithe  was  to  be  sent  to  the  god  at  Delphi ;  but 
the  spoil  was  mostly  consumed  and  spent ;  the  pontiffs  de- 
clared that  the  state  was  only  accountable  for  what  had  been 
received  by  the  qusestors,  and  for  the  land  and  buildings  at 
Veii,  and  that  therefore  the  sin  of  those  who  kept  back 
their  share  of  it  would  lie  at  their  own  door.  Conscience 
made  all  refund;  but  much  ill  will  accrued  to  Camillus  for 
his  not  having  reminded  them  in  time  of  his  vow.  It  was 
resolved  to  make  a  golden  bowl  {crater)  to  the  value  of  the 
tenth,  but  there  was  not  sufficient  gold  in  the  treasury; 
the  matrons  then  came  forward,  and  proffered  to  lend  the 
state  their  ornaments  and  jewels  of  gold :  their  offer  was 
graciously  accepted,  and  in  return  the  privilege  of  going 
through  the  city  in  chariots  was  granted  them,  — an  honor 
hitherto  confined  to  the  principal  magistrates.  The  bowl 
was  made,  and  a  trireme  and  three  envoys  despatched  with 
it  to  Delphi.  But  the  ship  was  captured  and  carried  into 
Lipara  by  some  cruisers,  who  took  it  for  a  pirate.  Timo- 
sitheijs  however,  the  chief  magistrate  of  the  place,  released 
it,  and  sent  it  with  a  convoy  to  Greece,  for  which  the  Ro- 
,mans  granted  him  the  right  of  proxeny  to  the  state.  The 
bowl    was   deposited    in   the    treasury   of   the   Massalians, 


112  HISTORY   OF   ROME. 

whence,  not  many  years  after,  it  was  taken  and  melted 
down  by  Onomarchus  the  Phocian.* 

The  year  after  the  capture  of  Veii,  (360,)  the  Capenates 
were  compelled  to  sue  for  peace ;  and  a  colony  of  three 
thousand  plebeian  veterans  were  sent  to  the  iEquian 
country,  the  patricians  hoping  to  be  able  to  keep  the  rich 
Veientine  lands  to  themselves.  But  the  tribunes  insisted 
that  the  lands  and  houses  there  should  be  assigned  to  the 
two  orders  alike.  As  this,  by  dividing  the  Roman  people 
into  two  parts,  would  be  the  destruction  of  the  unity  of  the 
state,  the  patricians  opposed  it  most  warmly:  by  gaining 
over  two  of  the  tribunes  they  staved  it  off  for  two  years; 
and  in  362,  when  the  tribunes  were  unanimous,  and  the  two 
who  had  opposed  before  had  been  heavily  fined,  the  senators, 
by  addressing  themselves  to  their  plebeian  tribesmen,  and 
showing  the  evil  of  the  measure,  got  it  rejected  by  a  ma- 
jority of  eleven  out  of  the  twenty-one  tribes.  Next  day  a 
vote  of  the  senate  assigned  a  lot  of  seven  jugers  of  Veientine 
land  to  every  free  person  who  needed  it. 

In  361,  Camillus,  being  one  of  the  military  tribunes,  en- 
tered the  Faliscan  territory.  The  Faliscans  had  encamped 
in  a  strong  position  about  a  mile  from  the  town;  but  he 
drove  them  from  it,  and  then  advancing,  sat  down  before 
Fale^rii.  While  he  was  beleageuring  this  town,  the  following 
event  is  said  to  have  occurred. 

It  was  the  custom  at  Falerii,  as  in  Greece,  to  place  the 
boys  of  different  families  under  one  master,  {naidayMybg,) 
who  always  accompanied  them  at  their  sports  and  exercises. 
The  master  of  the  boys  of  several  of  the  noblest  families, 
continuing  to  take  them  outside  of  the  town  to  exercise  as 
before  the  siege,  led  them  one  day  into  the  Roman  camp, 
and  taking  them  to  Camillus  declared  that  he  thereby  put 
Falerii  into  his  hands.  The  generous  Roman,  disgusted 
with  such  treachery,  ordered  his  hands  to  be  tied  behind  his 
back,  and  giving  rods  to  the  boys,  made  them  whip  him 
into  the  town.  Overcome  by  such  magnanimity,  the  Falis- 
cans surrendered,  and  the  Roman  senate  was  satisfied  with 
their  giving  a  year's  pay  to  the  soldiers. 

The  year  364  saw  Rome  at  war  with  two  more  states  of 
Etruria,  Vulsinii,  and  Salpinum;  but  their  resistance  was 
brief,  eight  thousand  Vulsinians  laying  down  their  arms  al- 

*  Diodor.  xiv.  93.  Appian,  Ital.  Fragm.  8.  See  History  of  Greece, 
Part  III.  chap.  i.    For  proxeny,  see  same,  p.  48,  note,  2d  edit. 


THE    GAULS.  113 

most  without  fighting,  and  the  Salpinates  not  daring  to  leave 
their  walls  to  defend  their  lands.  A  truce  for  twenty  years 
was  made  with  the  Vulsinians,  on  their  giving  a  year's  pay  for 
the  Roman  troops.  But  this  year  was  rendered  still  more' 
notable  by  the  impeachment  of  Camillus  by  the  tribune  L. 
Apuleius,  for  having  secreted  a  part  of  the  plunder  of  Veii. 
The  evidence  appears  to  have  been  clear  against  him,  (two 
brazen  doors  from  Veii,  it  is  said,  were  found  in  his  house,) 
and  the  people  were  exasperated.  When  he  applied  to  his 
clients  in  the  tribes  to  get  him  off,  they  replied  that  they 
could  not  acquit  him,  but  that,  as  in  duty  bound,  they  would 
contribute  to  pay  whatever  fine  might  be  imposed  on  him./ 
Finding  his  case  hopeless,  he  resolved  to  go  into  exile. 
When  outside  of  the  gate  of  the  city,  he  turned  round,  and 
regarding  the  Capitol,  lifted  up  his  hands,  and  prayed  to  the 
gods  that  Rome  might  soon  have  cause  to  regret  him.  A 
fine  of  15,000  asses  was  laid  on  him  by  the  people. 


CHAPTER  V. 

THE    GAULS. THEIR    INVASION    OF    ITALY. SIEGE    OF   CLU- 

,    SIUM. BATTLE     OF     THE      ALIA. TAKING      OF     ROME. 

REBUILDING  OF  THE  CITY. DISTRESS  OF    THE    PEOPLE.  

M.  MANLIUS. THE     LICINIAN     ROGATIONS.  PESTILENCE 

AT    ROME. M.  CURTIUS.  HERNICAN  WAR. COMBAT  OF 

MANLIUS     AND    A    GAUL. GALLIC    AND     TUSCAN     WARS.  

COMBAT    OF    VALERIUS    AND  A  GAUL.  REDUCTION    OF    THE 

RATE    OF    INTEREST. 

The  ruthless  prayer  of  Camillus  was  accomplished ;  am- 
bassadors arrived  soon  after  from  Clusium  in  Etruria,  pray- 
ing for  aid  against  a  savage  people  come  from  the  confines 
of  the  earth,  and  named  the  Gauls. 

The  people  named  Celts  or  Gauls  were  the  original  in- 
habitants of  Europe  west  of  the  Rhine,  where  they  were 
spread  over  France,  the  British  Islesj  and  a  great  part,  if 
not  all,  of  Spain.  They  were  in  a  state  of  barbarism,  far 
exceeding  any  that  could  ever  have  prevailed  in  Greece  or 
Italy,  having  hardly  any  tillage  or  trade,  and  living  on  the 
milk  and  flesh  of  their  cattle.  In  manners  they  were  tur- 
10*  o 


114  HISTOil¥,0r  BO^E. 

bulent  and  brutal,  easily  excited,  but  deficient  in  energy  and 
perseverance.  Toward  the  time  of  the  last  Veientiwe  war, 
want,  or  the  pressure  of  a  superior  power,  (perhaps  that  of 
the  Iberians  in  the  south,)  seems  to  have  obliged  several  of 
their  tribes  to  migrate.  One  portion  pushed  along  the  val- 
ley of  the  Danube ;  another  crossed  the  Alps,  and  came  down 
on  northern  Etruria,  whose  chief  town,  Mejpum,  they  are 
said  to  have  taken  on  the  same  day  that  Veii  fell,  and  they 
rapidly  made  themselves  masters  of  the  whole  plain  of  the 
Po.  They  then  crossed  the  Apennines,  and  laid  siege  to 
the  city  of  Clusium  in  Etruria,  (364.) 

We  are  told  that  it  was  a  Clusine  who  had  invited  them 
into  Italy.  A  citizen  of  Clusium,  named  Aruns,  had  been 
the  guardian  of  a  Lucumo,  who,  when  he  grew  up,  seduced, 
or  was  seduced  by,  his  guardian's  wife.  Aruns,  having 
vainly  sought  justice  from  the  magistrates,  resolved  to  be 
revenged  on  them  as  well  as  on  his  injurer.  He  loaded 
mules  with  skins  of  wine  and  oil,  and  with  rush-mats  filled 
with  dried  figs,  and  crossing  the  Alps  came  to  the  Gauls, 
to  whom  such  delicacies  were  unknown.  He  told  them  that 
they  might  easily  win  the  land  that  produced  them ;  and 
forthwith  the  whole  people  arose,  with  wives  and  children, 
and  marched  for  Clusium.* 

When  the  Clusines  called  on  the  Romans  for  aid,  the 
senate  sent  three  of  the  Fabii,  sons  of  M.  Ambustus,  the 
chief  pontiff,  to  desire  the  Gauls  not  to  molest  the  allies  of 
Rome.  The  reply  was,  that  they  wanted  land,  and  the 
Clusines  must  divide  theirs  with  them.  The  Fabii  enraged 
went  into  the  town,  and  then  forgetting  their  character  of 
envoys,  and  that  no  Roman  could  bear  arms  against  any 
people  till  war  had  been  declared  and  he  had  taken  the 
military  oath,t  they  joined  the  Clusines  in  a  sally  ;  and 
Q,.  Fabius,  having  slain  a  Gallic  chief,  was  recognized  as  he 
was  stripping  him.  Forthwith  .  Brennus,  the  Gallic  king, 
ordered  a  retreat  to  be  sounded;  and  selecting  the  J^iugest 
of  his  warriors,  sent  them  to  Rome,  to  demand  the  sur- 
.render  of  the  Fabii.  The  fetiats  urged  the  senate  to  free 
the  republic  from  guilt :  most  of  the  senators  acknowledged 
their  duty,  but  they  could  not  endure  the  idea  of  giving 
up  men  of  such  noble  birth  to  the  vengeance  of  a  savage  foe. 
They  referred  the  matter  to  the  people,  who  instantly  cre- 

*  It  is  scarcely  necessary  to  mention  that  this  is  a  mere  legend. 
i  Cicero,  Offic.  i.  11. 


BATTLE    OF    THE    ALIA.  115 

ated  the  offenders  consular  tribunes,  and  then  told  the  en- 
voys that  nothing  could  be  done  to  them  till  the  expiration 
of  their  office,  at  which  time,  if  their  anger  continued,  they 
might  come  and  seek  justice.  Brennus,  when  he  received 
this  reply,  gave  the  word  "  For  Rome ! "  The  Gallic  horse 
and  foot  overspread  the  plains;  they  touched  not  the  prop- 
erty of  the  husbandman  ;  they  passed  by  the  towns  and  vil- 
lages as  if  they  were  friends ;  they  crossed  the  Tiber,  and 
reached  the  Alia,*  a  little  stream  that  enters  it  about  eleven 
miles  from  Rome. 

They  would  have  found  Rome  unprepared,  says  the  le* 
gend,t  but  that  one  night  a  plebeian  named  M.  Caedicius,  as 
he  was  going  down  the  Via  Nova  at  the  foot  of  the  Pala- 
tine, heard  a  voice  more  than  human  calling  him  by  name; 
he  turned,  but  could  see  no  one ;  he  was  then  desired  by 
the  voice  to  go  in  the  morning  to  the  magistrates,  and  tell 
them  that  the  Gauls  were  coming.  On  these  tidings,  the 
men  of  military  age  were  called  out  and  led  against  the 
foes,  whom  they  met  at  the  Alia. 

According  to  the  real  narrative,|  when  the  Romans  heard 
of  the  march  of  the  Gauls,  they  summoned  the  troops  of 
their  allies,  and  arming  all  that  could  carry  arms,  took 
a  position  near  Veii ;  but  on  learning  that  the  enemy  were 
making  for  the  city  by  forced  marches,  they  repassed  the 
river,  and  advancing,  met  them  at  the  Alia,  (July  16.)  The 
Gauls  were  70,000  men  strong ;  the  Roman  army  of  40,000 
was  divided  into  two  wings  or  horns,  {cornua,)  the  left  of 
24,000  men  rested  on  the  Tiber,  the  right  of  15,000  occu- 
pied some  broken  ground ;  the  Alia  was  between  them  and 
the  enemy.  Brennus  fell  on  the  right  wing,  which  was 
chiefly  formed  of  proletarians  and  aerarians,  and  speedily 
routed  it;  the  left  then,  seeing  itself  greatly  outflanked, 
was  seized  with  a  panic,  broke,  and  made  for  the  river :  the 
Gauls  assailed  them  on  every  side ;  many  were  slain,  many 
drowned ;  the  survivors,  mostly  without  arms,  fled  to  Veii. 
The  right  wing,  when  broken,  had  fled  through  the  hills  to 

*  Virgil,  for  the  sake  of  his  verse,  spelled  it  Allia ;  the  true  word  is 
Alia.     Servius  on  ^n.  vii.  717. 

t  Zonaras,  vii.  23,  from  Dion  Cassius.  Livy  and  the  other  writers 
place  this  legend  much  earlier. 

\  The  true  account  of  the  battle  and  the  taking  of  Rome  is  given  by 
Diodorus  (xiv.  113 — 117)  from  Fabius.  Livy  and  Plutarch  follow  the 
legend  of  Camillus. 


116  HISTORY    OF    ROME. 

Rome,  carrying  the  news  of  the  defeat ;  ere  nightfall  the 
Gallic  horse  appeared  on  the  Field  of  Mars,  and  before  the 
Goliine  gate;  but  no  attempt  was  made  on  the  city;  and 
that  night  and  the  succeeding  day  and  night  were  devoted 
to  plundering,  rioting,  drunkenness,  and  sleep. 

Meantime  the  Romans,  aware  of  the  impossibility  of  de- 
fending the  city,  resolved  to  collect  all  the  provisions  in  it 
on  the  Capitol  and  citadel,  which  would  contain  about  one 
thousand  men,  and  there  to  make  a  stand.  The  rest  of  the 
people  quitted  Rome  as  best  they  could,  to  seek  shelter  in 
the  neighboring  towns,  taking  with  them  such  articles  as 
they  could  carry.  A  part  of  the  sacred  things  was  buried  ; 
the  Flamen  Cluirinalis,  and  the  Vestal  Virgins  crossed  the 
Sublician  bridge  on  foot,  with  the  remainder,  on  their  way 
to  Casre.  As  they  ascended  the  Janiculan,  they  were  ob- 
served by  L.  Albinius,  a  plebeian,  who  was  driving  his  wife 
and  children  in  a  cart;  and  he  made  them  instantly  get 
down,  and  give  way  to  the  holy  virgins,  whom  he  conveyed 
in  safety  to  Caere.  About  eighty  aged  patricians,  who 
were  priests,  or  had  borne  curule  offices,  would  not  survive 
that  Rome  which  had  been  the  scene  of  all  their  glory : 
having  solemnly  devoted  themselves,  under  the  chief  pontiff, 
for  the  republic  and  the  destruction  of  her  foes,  they  sat 
calmly  awaiting  death  in  their  robes  of  state,  on  their  ivory 
seats  in  the  Forum. 

On  the  second  day  the  Gauls  burst  open  the  Colline  gate, 
and  entered  the  city.  A  death-like  stillness  prevailed ;  they 
reached  the  Forum ;  on  the  Capitol  above  they  beheld  armed 
men ;  beneath  in  the  Comitium  the  aged  senators,  like 
beings  of  another  world:  they  were  awe-struck,  and  paused. 
At  length  one  put  forth  his  hand,  and  stroked  the  venera- 
ble beard  of  M.  Papirius ;  the  indignant  old  man  raised  his 
ivory  sceptre,  and  smote  him  on  the  head;  the  barbarian 
drew  his  sword,  and  slew  him,  and  all  the  others  shared 
his  fate.  The  Gauls  spread  over  the  city  in  quest  of  plun- 
der, fires  broke  out  in  various  quarters,  and  erelong  the 
city  was  a  heap  of  ashes,  no  houses  remaining  but  a  few  on 
the  Palatine  reserved  for  the  chiefs. 

The  Gauls,  having  made  divers  fruitless  attempts  to  force 
their  way  up  the  clivus  of  the  Capitol,  resolved  to  trust  to 
famine  for  its  reduction.  But  provisions  soon  began  to  run 
short;  the  dog-days  and  the  sickly  month  of  September 
came  on,  and  they  died  in  heaps.     A  part  of  them  had 


TAKING    OF    ROME.  117 

marched  away  for  Apulia ;  the  rest  ravaged  Latium  far  and 
wide.* 

Meantime  some  people  of  Etruria  (probably  the  Tarquin- 
ians)  ungenerously  took  advantage  of  the  distress  of  the 
Romans  to  ravage  the  Veientine  territory,  where  the  Roman 
husbandmen  had  taken  refuge  with  what  property  they  had 
been  able  to  save.  But  the  Romans  at  Veii,  putting  M.  Cae- 
dicius  at  their  head,  fell  on  them  in  the  night,  and  routed 
them  ;  and  having  thus  gotten  a  good  deal  of  arms,  of  which 
they  were  so  much  in  want,  they  began  to  prepare  to  act 
against  the  Gauls.  A  daring  youth  named  Pontius  Comin- 
ius  swam  one  night  on  corks  down  the  river,  and  eluding 
the  Gauls  clambered  up  the  side  of  the  Capitol,f  and  having 
given  the  requisite  information  to  the  garrison,  returned  by 
the  way  he  came. 

But  the  Gauls  soon  took  notice  of  a  bush  which  had  given 
way  as  Cominius  grasped  it ;  they  also  observed  that  the 
grass  was  trodden  down  in  various  places ;  J  the  rock  was 
therefore  not  inaccessible,  and  it  was  resolved  to  scale  it. 
At  midnight,  a  party  came  in  dead  silence  to  the  spot,  and 
began  to  ascend.  Slowly  and  cautiously  they  clomb  up  ;  no 
noise  was  made,  the  Romans  were  buried  in  sleep,  their 
sentinels  were  negligent,  even  the  dogs  were  not  aroused. 
The  foremost  Gaul  had  reached  the  summit,  when  some 
geese,  which  as  sacred  to  Juno  had  been  spared  in  the 
famine,  being  startled,  began  to  flutter  and  scream.  The 
noise  awoke  M.  Manlius,  a  consular,  whose  house  stood  on 
the  hill ;  he  ran  out,  pushed  down  the  Gaul,  whose  fall 
caused  that  of  those  behind,  and  the  whole  project  was  baf- 
fled. The  negligent  captain  of  the  guard  was  flung  down 
the  rock  with  his  hands  tied  behind  his  back ;  and  every 
man  on  the  citadel  gave  Manlius  half  a  pound  of  corn,  and 
a  quarter  of  a  flask  of  wine  as  a  reward. 

Still  famine  pressed  ;  the  blockade  had  now  lasted  six 
months,  and  the  garrison  had  begun  to  eat  even  the  soles 

*  Among  the  wonders  of  this  period  is  the  following.  While  the 
Gauls  surrounded  the  Capitol,  the  time  of  the  annual  sacrifice  of  the 
Fabian  gens  on  the  Quirinal  arrived.  C.  Fabius  Dorso,  who  was  on 
the  Capitol,  then  girded  himself  with  the  Gabine  cincture,  took  the 
requisite  things  in  his  hands,  went  down  the  clivus,  ascended  the 
Quirinal,  performed  the  sacred  rites,  and  returned,  the  Gauls,  moved 
either  by  awe  or  by  religion,  offering  him  no  opposition. 

t  Under  the  modern  Ara  Celi,  (Nieb.  ii.  544,)  that  is,  at  the  part  of  the 
hill  farthest  from  the  river,  and  by  the  Carmental  Gate,  (Plut.  Camill.  25.) 

t  Plutarch,  nt  supra,  26. 


118  HISTORY   OF    ROME. 

of  their  shoes  and  the  leather  of  their  shields  :  the  Gauls, 
on  their  side,  found  their  army  melting  away,  and  tidings 
came  that  the  Venetians  had  invaded  their  territory ;  they 
therefore  agreed  to  receive  one  thousand  pounds  of  gold, 
and  depart.  At  the  weighing  of  the  gold  Brennus  had  false 
weights  brought ;  and  when  Q,.  Sulpicius  complained  of  the 
injustice,  he  flung  his  sword  into  the  scale,  crying,  **  Woe 
to  the  vanquished  !  "  (  V(b  victis!)  The  Gauls  then  departed 
and  recrossed  the  Apennines  with  their  wealth.*  (365.) 

It  is  thus  that  history  relates  the  transaction;  the  legend 
of  Camillus  tells  a  different  tale.  Camillus,  an  exile  at 
Ardea,  had,  it  says,  at  the  head  of  the  Ardeates,  given  the 
Gauls  a  check  ;  the  Romans  at  Veii  passed  an  ordinance  of 
the  plebs,  restoring  him  to  his  civil  rights,  and  making  him 
dictator ;  to  obtain  the  confirmation  of  the  senate  and  cu- 
ries, Cominius  ascended  the  Capitol.  Camillus,  at  the  head 
of  his  legions,  entered  the  Forum  just  as  the  gold  was  being 
weighed ;  he  ordered  it  to  be  taken  away :  the  Gauls  pleaded 
the  treaty ;  he  replied  that  it  was  not  valid,  being  made 
without  the  knowledge  of  the  dictator.  Each  side  grasped 
their  arms  ;  a  battle  was  fought  on  the  ruins  of  Rome  :  the 
Gauls  were  defeated,  and  a  second  victory  on  the  Gabine 
road  annihilated  their  army.  Camillus  entered  Rome  in 
triumph,  leading  Brennus  captive,  whom  he  ordered  to  be 
put  to  death,  replying  Vee  victis !  to  his  remonstrances. 
But  to  return  to  history. 

Nothing  could  exceed  the  miserable  condition  of  the  Ro- 
mans after  the  departure  of  the  Gauls ;  their  city  was  one 
heap  of  ruins,  their  property  was  nearly  all  lost  or  destroyed, 
their  former  allies  and  subjects  were  ill  disposed  toward 
them.t  We  are  told  in  a  legend,  that  the  people  of  Ficu- 
lea,  Fidenae,  and  some  of  the  adjacent  towns,  came  in  arms 
against  Rome;  and  so  great  was  the  panic  they  caused, 
that  a  popular  solemnity!  kept  up  the  memory  of  it  to  a 
late  age.  They  demanded  a  number  of  matrons  and  maidens 
of  good  families  as  the  price  of  peace.  The  Romans  were 
in  the  utmost  perplexity,  when  a  female  slave,  named  Phi- 
lotis  or  Tutula,  proposed  a  plan  to  avert  disgrace  from  the 
ladies  of  Rome.     She  and  several  of  her  companions  were 

*  Polybius,  ii.  22.     Suetonius,  Tiberius,  3.  ' 

t  Compare  the  account  of  the  return  of  the  Jews  to  their  city,  given 

in  the  Book  of  Ezra. 

X  Popidifuffia,  or  J^onte  CaprotiruB.     Plut.  Rom.  29.     Camill.  33. 

Macrob.  Sat.  i.  11. 


DISTRESS    OF    THE    PEOPLE.  119 

ci&d  in  the  prcBtexta,  Siiid  amid  the  tears  of  their  pretended 
relatives  delivered  to  the  Latins.  The  slaves  encouraged 
their  new  lords  to  drink  copiously ;  they  fell  into  a  deep 
sleep,  and  Tutula,  mounting  a  tree,  raised  a  lighted  torch 
toward  Rome.  The  Romans  fell  on  and  massacred  their 
slumbering  foes,  and  Tutula  and  her  companions  were  re- 
warded with  their  freedom.  Another  tradition*  told,  that 
at  this  period  the  scarcity  of  food  was  such  that  the  men 
past  sixty  were  thrown  into  the  river  as  being  useless.  One 
old  man  was  concealed  by  his  son,  through  whom  he  gave 
such  useful  counsel  to  the  state  that  the  practice  was  ended. 

The  people  shrank  from  the  prospect  of  rebuilding  their 
ruined  city,  and  it  was  vehemently  urged  that  they  should 
remove  to  Veii.  Against  this  project,  which  would  have 
probably  quenched  the  glory  of  Rome  forever,  the  patri- 
cians exerted  themselves  to  the  utmost,  appealing  to  every 
feeling  of  patriotism  and  religion.  A  word  of  omen,  casual 
or  designed,  was  decisive.  While  the  senate  was  debating, 
a  centurion  was  heard  to  cry  in  the  Comitium  as  he  was 
leading  his  men  over  it,  "Halt !  we  had  best  stop  here." 
The  senate  allowed  every  one  to  take  bricks  wherever  he 
found  them,  and  to  hew  stone  and  wood  where  he  liked. 
Veii  was  demolished  for  building  materials  ;  and  within  the 
year  Rome  rose  in  an  unsightly  irregular  form  from  her 
ruins. 

As  a  means  of  increasing  the  population,  the  civic  fran- 
chise was  given  (366)  to  the  people  of  such  Veientine, 
Faliscan,  and  Capenate  towns  as  had  come  over  to  the  Ro 
mans  during  the  Veientine  war  ;  and  two  years  after  (368) 
four  new  tribes  (which  raised  the  whole  number  to  twenty- 
five)  were  formed  out  of  them. 

The  wars  for  some  years  oifer  little  to  interest.  The 
Etruscans  are  said  to  have  failed  in  attempts  to  take  Sutrium 
and  Nepete  ;  the  Volscians  of  Antium  and  Ecetrje  went 
once  more  to  war  with  Rome,  now  enfeebled;  Hernican 
and  Latin  mercenaries  fought  on  their  side,  but  the  valor  of 
the  Roman  legions  was  still  triumphant.  The  Praenestines 
also  measured  their  strength  with  Rome,  but  the  banks  of 
the  Alia  witnessed  their  defeat.  (375.)  ' 

The  internal  history  of  this  period  is  of  far  more  im- 
portance. It  was  indeed  a  time  of  distress,  augmented 
by  the  cruelty  and  harshness  of  the  ruling  order.     In  order 

*  FestUB,  s.  V.  Sexagenaries. 


120  HISTORY    OP    ROME. 

to  build  their  houses,  procure  farming  implements,  and 
other  necessary  things,  the  plebeians  had  to  borrow  money 
to  a  considerable  extent.  The  rate  of  interest  being  now 
raised  at  Rome,  the  money  lenders  (argentarii)  flocked 
thither,  and  under  the  patronage  of  the  patricians,  for  which 
they  had  to  pay  high,  they  lent  to  the  people  at  a  most  usurious 
rate ;  interest  speedily  multiplied  the  principal ;  there  were 
also  outstanding  debts  to  the  patricians  themselves ;  the 
severe  law  of  debt,  which  the  Twelve  Tables  had  left  in 
force,  but  which,  owing  to  the  prosperity  of  the  following 
years,  had  rarely  been  acted  on,  was  again  in  operation, 
and  freeborn  Romans  were  reduced  to  bondage  at  home,  or 
sold  out  of  their  country.  To  augment  the  distress  of  the 
people,  the  government  (urged  most  probably  by  superstition) 
laid  on  a  tribute  to  raise  double  the  amount  of  the  thousand 
pounds  of  gold  given  to  the  Gauls,  to  replace  it  in  the  tem- 
ples whence  it  had  been  taken. 

In  this  state  of  things  M.  Manlius,  the  savior  of  the 
Capitol,  came  forward  as  the  patron  of  the  distressed.  In 
birth  and  in  valor,  and  every  other  ennobling  quality,  he 
yielded  to  no  man  of  his  time,  and  he  ill  brooked  to  see 
himself  kept  in  the  background,  while  his  rival  Camillus 
was  year  after  year  invested  with  the  highest  offices  in  the 
state.  This  feeling  of  jealousy  may  have  influenced  his 
subsequent  conduct ;  but  Manlius  was  a  man  of  generous 
mind,  and  when  one  day  (370)  he  saw  a  brave  centurion, 
his  fellow-soldier,  led  over  the  Forum  in  chains  by  the 
usurer  to  whom  he  had  been  adjudged,  (addictus,)  his  pity 
was  excited,  and  he  paid  his  debt  on  the  spot.  Once  in 
the  career  of  generosity,  Manlius  could  not  stop;  he  sold 
an  estate  beyond  the  Tiber,  the  most  valuable  part  of  his 
property,  and  saved  nearly  four  hundred  citizens  from  bond- 
age by  lending  them  money  without  interest. 

His  house  on  the  citadel  now  became  the  resort  of  all 
classes  of  plebeians ;  and  he  is  said  to  have  hinted  in  his 
discourses  with  them,  that  the  patricians  had  embezzled  the 
money  raised  to  replace  the  votive  offerings,  and  that  they 
should  be  made  to  refund  and  liquidate  with  it  the  debts  of 
the  poor.  The  proceedings  of  Manlius  seemed  so  danger- 
ous to  the  senate,  that,  by  their  direction,  the  dictator  A. 
Cornelius  Cossus  had  him  arrested  and  thrown  into  prison. 
Numbers  of  the  plebeians  now  changed  their  raiment,  and 
let  their  hair  and  beard  grow  neglected,  as  mourners;  day 
and   night  they   lingered   about  the  prison-door;    and   the 


M.    MANLIUS.  121 

senate,  either  alarmed  or  having  no  real  charge  against  him, 
set  him  at  liberty. 

It  is  likely  that  the  injustice  of  the  senate  may  have  ex- 
acerbated Manlius ;  at  all  events  he  was  now  become  a 
dangerous  citizen,  and  two  of  the  tribunes  impeached  him 
before  the  centuries  for  aiming  at  the  kingdom.  His  own 
order,  his  friends  and  kinsmen,  and  even  his  two  brothers, 
deserted  him  in  his  need ;  a  thing  unheard  of,  for  even  for 
the  decemvir  all  the  Claudian  house  had  changed  their  rai- 
ment. On  the  Field  of  Mars  he  produced  all  whom  he  had 
preserved  from  bondage  for  debt,  and  those  whose  lives  he 
had  saved  in  battle  ;  he  displayed  the  arms  of  thirty  foes 
whom  he  had  slain,  and  forty  rewards  of  valor  conferred 
on  him  by  different  generals;  he  bared  his  breast,  covered 
with  scars,  and  looking  up  to  the  Capitol  implored  the  gods, 
whose  fanes  he  had  saved,  to  stand  by  him  in  his  need.  This 
appeal  to  gods  and  men  was  irresistible,  and  he  was  ac- 
quitted by  the  centuries.  But  his  enemy  Camillus  was  dic- 
tator, and  he  was  arraigned  before  the  curies,  {concilium  po- 
puli,)  assembled  in  the  Poetilian  grove,  before  the  Nomentan 
gate,  who  readily  condemned  him  to  death. 

Manlius  was  either  already  in  insurrection,  or  he  resolved  not 
to  fall  a  passive  victim.  He  and  his  partisans  occupied  the 
Capitol ;  treachery  was  then  employed  against  him ;  a  slave 
came,  feigning  to  be  a  deputy  from  his  brethren;  and  as 
Manlius  was  walking  on  the  edge  of  the  precipice  in  confer- 
ence with  him,  he  gave  him  a  sudden  push,  and  tumbled  him 
down  the  rock.* 

The  house  of  Manlius  was  razed;  a  decree  was  passed 
that  no  patrician  should  ever  dwell  on  the  Capitol ;  and  the 
Manlian  gens  made  a  by-law  that  none  of  them  should  ever 
bear  the  name  of  Marcus.  The  people  mourned  him  ;  and 
the  pestilence  with  which  Rome  was  shortly  afterwards 
afflicted  was  regarded  as  a  punishment  sent  by  the  gods  to 
avenge  the  death  of  the  preserver  of  their  temples. 

Meantime  the  misery  of  the  plebeians  went  on  increasing; 
day  after  day  debtors  were  dragged  away  from  the  prsetor's 
tribunal  to  the  private  dungeons  of  the  patricians  ;  the  whole 
plebeian  order  lost  spirit;  and  the  greedy,  short-sighted  patri- 
cians were  on  the  point  of  reducing  Rome  to  a  feeble,  con- 
temptible oligarchy,  when  two  men  appeared,  who,  by  their 

*  Dion,  fragm.  xxxi.    Zonaras,  vii.  24.    In  this  manner  Odysseus, 
one  of  the  Greek  chiefs  in  the  late  war,  was  killed  at  Athens. 
11  P 


122  HISTORY   OF    ROME. 

wisdom  and  firmness,  changed  the  fate  of  Rome,  and  with  it 
that  of  the  world.  These  were  the  tribunes  C.  Licinius 
Stolo  and  L.  Sextius  Lateranus. 

In  the  year  378  they  proposed  the  three  following  roga- 
tions. 

1.  Instead  of  consular  tribunes,  there  shall  in  future  be 
consuls,  one  of  whom  shall  of  necessity  be  a  plebeian. 

2.  No  one  shall  possess  more  than  five  hundred  jugers 
of  arable  or  plantation  land  in  the  domain,  {ager  publicus,) 
nor  feed  more  than  one  hundred  head  of  large  and  five  hun- 
dred of  small  cattle  on  the  public  pasture.  Every  possessor 
must  pay  the  state  annually  the  tenth  bushel  off  his  corn- 
land,  the  fifth  of  the  produce  of  his  plantation-land,  and  so 
much  a  head  grazing-money  for  his  cattle.  He  shall  also 
employ  freemen  as  laborers  in  proportion  to  his  land. 

3.  The  interest  already  paid  on  debts  shall  be  deducted 
from  the  principal,  and  the  residue  be  paid  in  three  equal 
annual  instalments. 

There  is  no  reason  to  suppose  that  the  authors  of  these 
measures,  which  were  to  infuse  new  life  and  energy  into 
the  state,  were  influenced  by  any  but  the  best  motives ;  but 
patrician  malignity,  and  that  ignoble  spirit  which  loves  to  as- 
sign a  paltry  motive  for  even  the  most  glorious  actions,  in- 
vented the  following  tale. 

M.  Fabius  Ambustus  had  two  daughters,  one  of  whom  was 
married  to  Ser.  Sulpicius,  a  patrician  and  consular  tribune 
for  the  year  378 ;  the  other  to  C.  Licinius  Stolo,  a  wealthy 
plebeian.  One  day,  while  the  younger  Fabia  was  visiting 
her  sister,  Sulpicius  returned  from  the  Forum,  and  the  lictor, 
as  was  usual,  smote  the  door  with  his  rod  that  it  might  be 
opened.  The  visitor,  unused  to  such  ceremony  in  her 
modest  plebeian  abode,  started,  and  her  sister  smiled  in  pity 
of  her  ignorance.  She  said  nothing,  but  the  matter  sank 
deep  in  her  mind  ;  her  father,  observing  her  dejected,  in- 
quired the  cause  ;  and  having  drawn  it  from  her,  assured 
her  that  she  should  be  on  an  equality  with  her  sister;  and  he, 
.Licinius,  and  Sextius  forthwith  began  to  concert  measures 
for  effecting  what  he  proposed.* 

The  struggle  lasted  five  years.t     The  patricians  had  not 

*  Fabius  had  been  a  consular  tribune  within  the  last  four  years. 
How  then  could  his  daughter  be  ignorant  of  the  pomp  of  the  office  ? 
Moreover,  there  was  nothing  to  prevent  Licinius  from  being  one  him- 
self, as  the  office  was  open  to  plebeians. 

t  Livy  makes  it  last  ten  years,  and  the  city  in  consequence  be  in  a 


THE    LICINIAN    ROGATIONS.  123 

now,  as  heretofore,  the  Latins,  Hernicans,  and  Volscians  to 
call  to  their  aid  ;  neither  had  they  large  bodies  of  clients  at 
their  devotion.  They  therefore  sought  to  gain  the  other  trib- 
unes, by  representing  the  mischievous  nature  of  the  bills : 
and  they  succeeded  so  well,  that  eight  of  the  college  forbade 
them  to  be  read.  Licinius  and  Sextius  retaliated  by  impeding 
the  election  of  consular  tribunes.  They  were  themselves  re- 
elected year  after  year,  ai^d  they  never  permitted  the  election 
of  consular  tribunes,  unless  when  the  state  was  in  danger 
from  its  foreign  enemies.  In  381,  the  opposition  in  the  col- 
lege was  reduced  to  five,  and  these  wavering :  the  next  year 
(382)  the  tribunes  were  unanimous,  and  the  only  resource  of 
the  oligarchs  lay  in  the  dictatorship.  Camillus  was  appoint- 
ed :  and  when  the  tribes  were  beginning  to  vote,  he  entered 
the  Forum,  and  commanded  them  to  disperse.  The  tribunes 
calmly  proposed  a  fine  of  500,000  asses  on  him  if  he  should 
act  as  dictator.  Camillus  saw  that  the  magic  power  of  the 
dictatorial  name  was  gone,  and  he  laid  down  his  office. 
The  senate  appointed  P.  Manlius  to  succeed ;  and  he  named 
C.  Licinius,  a  plebeian,  master  of  the  horse.  It  was  agreed 
to  augment  the  number  of  the  keepers  of  the  Sibylline  books 
to  ten,  one  half  to  be  plebeians  ;  and,  the  dictator  not  impeding 
the  people,  with  their  wonted  short-sightedness  and  ingrati- 
tude were  beginning  to  vote  the  two  last  rogations,  which  con- 
cerned themselves  most  nearly ;  but  Licinius,  telling  them  they 
must  eat  if  they  would  drink,*  incorporated  the  three  bills  in 
one,  and  would  have  all  or  none.  In  383  (388)  the  bills  passed 
the  tribes ;  but  Camillus  was  again  made  dictator  against 
the  people.  The  tribunes  sent  their  officers  to  arrest  him ; 
he  saw  the  inutility  of  further  resistance,  and  the  senate  and 
curies  gave  their  assent  to  the  law.  L.  Sextius,  being  ap- 
pointed plebeian  consul,  a  last  effort  was  made  by  the  curies, 
who  refused  to  confirm  him.     The  people  lost  all  patience, 

state  of  complete  anarchy,  without  any  supreme  magistrates,  for  five 
years,  —  a  condition  of  things  which  is  utterly  impossible.  The  cause 
of  this  is,  that  the  capture  of  Rome  by  the  Gauls,  which  really  occur- 
red in  Ol.  99,  3,  was  supposed  to  have  happened  in  Ol.  98,  1,  the  date 
which  the  Greek  chronologers  gave  for  the  descent  of  the  Gauls  into 
Italy ;  and  to  reconcile  the  Roman  Fasti  with  this,  it  was  necessary  to 
suppose  that  five  years  had  passed  without  magistrates ;  and  it  was 
assumed  that  this  must  have  been  during  the  disputes  on  the  Licinian 
rogations.  Another  year  was  put  m  on  another  occasion,  so  that  the 
dates  henceforth  are  five,  from  439,  six  years  in  advance ;  the  death 
of  CsBsar,  therefore,  was  in  702,  not  708  ;  the  birth  of  Christ  in  746, 
not  752.  See  Niebuhr,  ii.  553—567. 
*  Dion,  fragm.  xxxiii. 


124  HISTORY    OF    ROME. 

seized  their  arms,  and  retired  to  the  Aventine.*  The  ven- 
erable Camillus,  weary  of  civil  discord,  became  the  mediator 
of  peace,  and  vowed  a  temple  to  Concord.  The  people 
consented  that  the  city-praetorship  should  be  confined  to  the 
houses,  as  a  curule  dignity  coordinate  with  the  consulate.! 
The  office  of  curule  sediles,  to  be  filled  in  alternate  years 
by  two  patricians  and  two  plebeians,  was  instituted;  and 
one  day  for  the  plebeians,  as  being  now  an  integrant  part  of 
the  nation,  was  added  to  the  three  of  the  Great  Games.  The 
centuries,  to  reward  the  illustrious  Camillus,  elected  his  son 
M.  Furius  the  first  city-prgetor. 

The  passing  of  the  Licinian  laws  may  be  regarded  as  the 
termination  of  the  struggle  which  had  been  going  on  for 
nearly  a  century  and  a  half  between  the  orders.  In  the 
whole  course  of  history  there  is  perhaps  nothing  to  be  found, 
more  deserving  of  admiration  than  the  conduct  of  the  ple- 
beians throughout  the  entire  contest ;  no  violence,  no  mur- 
ders, no  illegal  acts  on  their  part  are  to  be  discerned,  though 
the  annals  whence  we  derive  our  knowledge  of  it  were  drawn 
up  and  kept  by  the  opposite  party.  One  is  naturally  led  to 
inquire  into  the  causes  of  this  moderation;  and  they  will 
perhaps  be  found  to  be  as  follows.  In  the  first  place,  that 
steadiness  and  spirit  of  obedience  to  law  and  authority,  which 
seems  to  have  belonged  to  the  Roman  character  while  the 
nation  continued  pure  and  unmixed ;  next,  the  fact  that  the 
plebeians  were,  at  this  time,  composed  of  small  landed  pro- 
prietors, living  frugally  and  industriously  on  their  little  farms, 
and  visiting  the  city  only  on  market-days.  But  the  chief 
cause  was,  that  they  acted  under  the  guidance  of  their  nat- 
ural leadets,  theit  nobility  and  gentry,  and  not  of  brawling 
demagogues;  for  the  Licinii,  the  Icilii,  the  Junii,  and  others 
were,  in  birth  and  wealth,  the  fellows  of  theCluinctii  and  the 
Manlii,  who  excluded  them  from  the  high  offices  in  the  state. 
It  was,  in  fact,  a  part  of  the  fortune  of  Rome,  that  she  never 
was  afflicted  with  the  scourge  of  the  selfish,  low-born,  lying, 
arrogant  demagogues,  the  curse  of  the  Grecian  republics. 
When  she  was  doomed  to  have  her  demagogues  also,  they 
were  beasts  of  prey  of  a  higher  order,  of  her  noblest  and  most 
ancient  patrician  houses,  the  Cornelii,  the  Julii,  the  Claudii, 
who,  disdaining  to  fawn  ort  and  flatter  the  electors  whom 

•  Ovid,  Fasti,  i.  643. 

t  The  curule  magistrates  were  so  named  as  being  allowed  to  go  to 
the  senate-house  in  a  chariot,  (cumis ;)  their  movable  seat  (seUa  cw- 
ndis)  was  ta^en  out,  and  carried  in  after  them.    Grellius,  iii.  18. 


THE    LICINIAN    ROGATIONS.  1^ 

they  despised,  purchased  their  venal  votes,  or  terrified  them, 
and  carried  their  measures  by  the  swords  of  armed  bandits. 
But  these  unhappy  times  are  yet  far  off;  two  centuries  of 
glory  are  to  come  before  we  arrive  at  them.  To  retur^i  to 
our  narrative. 

In  the  two  following  years,  (390,  391,)  Rome  was  severely 
afflicted  by  a  pestilence,  which  carried  oif  numbers  of  all 
orders  :  among  them  was  the  venerable  M.  Furius  Camillus, 
the  second  founder,  as  he  was  styled,  of  the  city,  a  man  who 
though  his  deeds  have  been  magnified  by  fiction,  must  have 
been  really  one  of  the  greatest  that  even  Rome  ever  saw. 
As  d  means  of  appeasing  the  divine  wrath,  a  kctisternium  * 
was  made,  for  the  third  time,  and  stage-plays  were  celebrated, 
the  actors  being  fetched  from  Etruria.  The  Tiber  also  rose 
at  this  time  and  inundated  the  city. 

It  had  been  an  old  custom  at  Rome,  that,  on  the  Ides  of 
September,  the  chief  magistrate  should  drive  a  nail  into  the 
right  side  of  the  temple  of  Jupiter  on  the  Capitol.  The  rea- 
son of  this  practice  was,  that  a  regular  account  might  be  kept 
of  the  years.  It  had,  however,  been  for  some  time  intermit- 
ted ;  but  it  being  given  out  (392)  that  a  plague  had  once 
ceased  when  a  dictator  drove  the  nail,  the  senate  seized  the 
opportunity  of  making  an  attempt  to  get  rid  of  the  late  laws, 
and  L.  Manlius  Imperiosus  was  named  dictator.  Having 
driven  the  nail,  he  commenced  a  levy  against  the  Herni- 
cans ;  but  the  tribunes  forced  him  to  desist  and  abdicate ; 
and  the  next  year  (393)  the  tribune,  M.  Pomponius,  im- 
peached him  for  his  harshness  and  cruelty  in  the  levy.  One 
charge  on  which  the  tribune  dwelt  was  his  keeping  his  son, 
merely  for  a  defect  in  his  speech,  at  work  in  the  country, 
among  his  slaves.  The  young  man,  when  he  heard  of  this 
charge  against  his  parent,  armed  himself  with  a  knife,  and 
coming  early  one  morning  into  the  city,  went  straight  to 
the  tribune's  house.  On  telling  his  name  he  was  admitted  ; 
at  his  desire  all  were  ordered  to  withdraw,  the  tribune  nat- 
urally thinking  he  was  come  to  give  him  some  important 
information.  Manlius  then  drawing  his  knife,  menaced  him 
with  instant  death  if  he  did  not  swear  to  drop  the  prosecution. 
The  terrified  tribune  swore ;  the  charge  against  Manlius  was 
not  proceeded  in ;  and  the  people,  to  show  their  admiration 
of  his  filial  piety,  elected  the  young  man  one  of  the  legion- 
ary tribunes  for  the  year. 

**  That  is,  exposing  the  images  of  the  gods  in  public. 


126  HISTORY  OF    ROME. 

The  following  romantic  act  is  also  placed  in  this  year. 
A  great  chasm  opened  in  the  middle  of  the  Forum ;  to  fill  it 
up  was  found  to  be  impossible ;  the  soothsayers  announced 
that  it  would  only  close  when  it  contained  what  Rome  pos- 
sessed of  most  value,  and  that  then  the  duration  of  the  state 
would  be  perpetual.  While  all  were  in  doubt  and  perplexity, 
a  gallant  youth,  named  M.  Curtius,  demanded  if  Rome  had 
any  thing  more  precious  than  arms  and  valor.  He  then 
mounted  his  horse,  fully  caparisoned,  and  while  all  gazed 
in  silence,  regarding  now  the  Capitol  and  the  temples  of 
the  gods,  now  the  chasm,  he  solemnly  devoted  himself  for 
the  weal  of  Rome;  then  giving  his  horse  the  spurs,  he 
plunged  into  the  gulf  and  disappeared ;  the  people  poured  in 
fruits  and  other  offerings,  and  the  yawning  chasm  at  length 
closed.* 

A  war,  the  cause  of  which  is  not  assigned,  being  now  de- 
clared against  the  Hernicans,  the  plebeian  consul  L.  Genucius 
invaded  their  territory.  But  he  let  himself  be  surprised,  his 
soldiers  fled,  and  he  himself  was  slain.  The  victorious  Her- 
nicans advanced  to  assail  the  camp  :  but  the  soldiers,  en- 
couraged and  headed  by  the  legate  C.  Sulpicius,  made  a  sal- 
ly and  drove  them  off.  At  Rome  the  news  of  the  defeat 
and  death  of  the  consul  gave  the  utmost  joy  to  the  patricians. 
"  This  comes,"  they  cried,  "  of  polluting  the  auspices :  men 
might  be  insulted  and  trifled  with,  not  so  the  immort^ 
gods."  Ap.  Claudius  was  forthwith  created  dictator,  and 
having  levied  an  army  he  went  and  joined  that  under  Sul- 
picius. The  Hernicans  on  their  side  strained  every  nerve  ; 
all  of  the  military  age  were  summoned  to  the  field ;  eight  co- 
horts, of  four  hundred  men  each,  of  chosen  youths,  with 
double  pay  and  a  promise  of  future  immunity  from  service  if 
victorious,  stood  in  the  front  of  their  line.  The  courage, 
skill,  and  discipline  of  the  two  now  adverse  peoples  were 
equal.  The  battle  was  long  and  obstinate :  the  Roman  knights 
had  to  dismount  and  fight  in  the  front.  The  conflict  end- 
ed only  with  the  night ;  a  dubious  victory  remained  with  the 
Romans,  who  had  lost  one  fourth  of  their  men  and  several 
of  their  knights.     Next  day  the  Hernicans  abandoned  their 

*  The  legend  was  evidently  invented  to  give  an  origin  to  the  Laciis 
Curtius,  as  a  part  of  the  Forum  was  named.  The  historian  Piso,  who 
sought  to  rationalize  all  the  legends  of  the  old  history,  said  that  it  was 
so  named  from  Mettus  Curtius,  a  Sabine,  who  in  the  war  between 
Romulus  and  Tatius,  plunged  with  his  horse  into  the  lake  which  then 
occupied  that  place. 


GALLIC    AND    TUSCAN    WARS.  X^ 

camp  ;  the  Romans  were  too  much  exhausted  to  pursue,  but 
the  colonists  of  Signia  fell  on  and  routed  them.  The  follow- 
ing year  (394)  the  Romans  ravaged  their  lands  with  impuni- 
ty, and  took  their  town  of  Ferentinum.  As  the  legions  w€re 
returning,  the  Tiburtines  closed  their  gates  against  them, 
which  gave  occasion  to  a  war  with  this  people. 

The  Gauls,  owing  most  probably  to  the  influx  of  new 
hordes  from  home,  had  for  many  years  spread  their  ravages 
to  the  very  utmost  point  of  Italy.  Latium  suffered  with  the 
rest ;  and  a  Gallic  army  is  said  to  have  appeared  at  this  time 
on  the  Anio.  T.  duinctius  Pennus,  the  dictator,  led  an  army 
against  them.  While  they  stood  opposite  each  other,  a  Gaul 
of  gigantic  stature  advanced  on  the  bridge,  and  challenged 
any  Roman  to  engage  him.  T.  Manlius  (he  who  had  saved 
his  father)  then  went  to  the  dictator  and  craved  permission  to 
meet  the  boastful  foe.  Leave  was  freely  granted ;  his  com- 
rades armed  him  and  led  him  against  the  huge  Gaul,  who  put 
out  his  tongue  in  derision  of  the  pigmy  champion.  In  the 
combat  the  Gaul  made  huge  cuts  with  his  heavy  broadsword  ; 
the  Roman,  running  in,  threw  up  the  bottom  of  the  foeman's 
great  shield  with  his  own,  and,  getting  inside  of  it,  stabbed 
him  again  and  again  in  the  belly,  till  he  fell  like  a  mountain. 
He  took  nothing  from  him  save  his  golden  collar,  {torquis,) 
whence  he  derived  the  name  of  Torquatus.*  The  Gauls,  dis- 
mayed at  the  fall  of  their  champion,  broke  up  in  the  night 
and  retired  to  Tiber. 

The  following  year  (395)  the  Gauls  again  appeared,  and, 
united  with  the  Tiburtines,  committed  great  ravages  in  La- 
tium ;  they  even  advanced  to  the  walls  of  Rome,  where  Q,. 
Servilius  Ahala  was  made  dictator,  and  a  battle  was  fought 
before  the  Colline  gate.  The  loss  on  both  sides  was  consid- 
erable, but  the  Gauls  were  driven  off,  and  as  they  approached 
Tibur  they  were  attacked  by  the  consul  C.  Pcetelius  and  the 
victory  completed. 

Two  years  after  (397)  the  Gauls  came  again  into  Latium 
and  encamped  at  Pedum.  The  common  danger  caused  a  re- 
newal of  the  ancient  alliance  between  Rome  and  Latium,  and 
a  combined  army,  under  the  dictator  C.  Sulpicius,  took  the 
field.  The  dictator,  loth  to  risk  a  battle  when  the  enemy 
might  be  overcome  more  surely  by  delay,  encamped  in  a 
strong  position,  which  the  Gauls  did  not  venture  to  attack  ; 

*  The  legend,  which  reminds  one  of  David  and  Goliath,  was  ap- 
parently invented  to  account  for  the  name.  The  tale  how  our  own 
Cmur  de  Lion  "  robbed  the  lion  of  his  heart,"  is  a  more  modern  instance 
of  this  practice. 


128  HISTORY   OF    ROME. 

but  his  own  soldiers  grew  impatient,  and  demanded  to  be  led 
to  battle.  Sulpicius,  fearing,  he  might  not  be  able  to  restrain 
them,  complied ;  but  the  event  justified  his  caution  ;  the  le- 
gions were  driven  back,  and  but  for  the  efforts  of  despair 
which  they  made  at  the  call  of  the  dictator,  and  a  stratagem 
which  he  had  devised,  they  would  have  sustained  a  defeat. 
He  had  the  night  before  sent  off  all  the  horse-boys,  armed 
and  mounted  on  mules,  into  the  woods  on  the  hills  over  his 
camp,  and  directed  them  when  he  made  a  signal  to  show 
themselves  and  advance  toward  that  of  the  enemy.  He  now 
made  the  signal ;  the  Gauls,  fearing  to  be  cut  off  from  their 
camp,  fell  back ;  the  Romans  pressed  on  them,  and  they 
broke  and  made  for  the  woods,  where  great  numbers  of 
them  were  slain.  The  gold  found  in  their  camp  was  walled 
up  in  the  Capitol,  and  the  dictator,  triumphed  as  he  deserved. 

But  while  the  arms  of  Rome  were  thus  fortunate  under 
the  dictator,  they  sustained  a  disgrace  under  the  consul  C. 
Fabius  in  Etruria  ;  for  the  Tarquinians,  with  whom  there  now 
was  war,  gave  him  a  defeat ;  and,  having  taken  three  hun- 
dred and  seven  Roman  soldiers,  they  offered  them  as  victims 
to  their  gods.  The  Roman  territory  to  the  south  was  also 
ravaged  by  the  Volscians  of  Velitrse  and  Privernum  ;  but  the 
next  year  (398)  the  Privernates  were  defeated  under  their 
own  walls  by  the  consul  C.  Marcius. 

This  year  was  rendered  memorable  by  the  condemnation 
of  C.  Licinius  for  the  transgression  of  his  own  law.  He  was 
fined  10,000  asses  for  having  one  thousand  jugers  of  the  pub- 
lic land,  one  half  being  held  in  the  name  of  his  son  whom  he 
had  emancipated  for  the  purpose  of  eluding  the  law.  By  a 
rogation  of  the  tribunes  M.  Duilius  and  L.  Maenius,  the  rate 
of  interest  was  reduced  to  ten  per  cent.,  (fanus  unciarium ;) 
an  attempt  was  made  also  by  the  patricians  to  have  laws 
passed  away  from  the  city,  by  the  soldiers  when  under  the 
military  oath.  The  consul  Cn.  Manlius  held  in  the  camp  at 
Sutrium  an  assembly  of  the  tribes,  and  passed  a  law,  impo- 
sing an  ad  valorem  duty  of  five  per  cent,  on  the  emancipation 
of  slaves.  The  law  was  a  good  one;  the  senate  readily 
gave  it  their  sanction  ;  but  the  tribunes  saw  their  ulterior  ob- 
ject, and  made  it  capital  to  hold  such  assemblies  in  future. 

In  399  the  consul  M.  Fabius  engaged  a  combined  army 
of  the  Tarquinians  and  Faliscans.  The  Tuscan  Lucumones, 
we  are  told,  rushed  out  in  front  of  their  line,  shaking  serpents 
and  waving  lighted  torches.  This  novel  apparition  at  first 
daunted  the  Romans  ;  but  they  soon  shook  off  the  terrors  of 
superstition,  routed   their   foes,  and   took   their   camp.     It 


GALLIC    AND    TUSCAN    WARS.  129 

would  however  appear  that  the  victory  was  in  reality  on  the 
side  of  the  Tuscans,  for  they  soon  after  entered  the  Salinae, 
and  it  was  found  necessary  to  appoint  a  dictator.  The  ple- 
beian consul  M.  Popillius  Lsenas  named  the  plebeian  C.  Mar- 
cius  Rutilus,  who  made  another  plebeian,  C.  Plautius,  master 
of  the  horse.  The  patricians  refused  the  dictator  all  the 
means  of  forming  an  army,  but  the  people  gave  him  every 
thing  he  required  ;  he  defeated  the  enemy,  took  eight  thou- 
sand prisoners,  and  triumphed  without  the  consent  of  the 
patricians. 

As  the  alliance  had  been  renewed  with  the  Latins  and 
Hernicans,  the  oligarchs  resolved  to  make  a  bold  effort  to 
get  rid  of  the  Licinian  law ;  and  for  five  successive  years,  by 
means  of  interrexes  and  dictators,  the  consuls  were,  in  spite 
of  the  tribunes,  both  patricians.  During  this  period  nothing 
of  note  occurred  except  a  defeat  of  the  Tarquinians  in  401  ; 
on  which  occasion  three  hundred  and  fifty-eight  of  the  prin- 
cipal men  among  the  captives  were  brought  to  Rome  and 
put  to  death  in  the  Forum,  in  retaliation  of  their  barbarity 
in  the  year  397.  The  Caerites  also,  being  accused  of  shar- 
ing in  the  war,  only  escaped  the  vengeance  of  Rome  by  the 
surrender  of  one  half  of  their  domain.  They  were  then 
granted  a  truce  for  one  hundred  years. 

At  length  the  patricians  were  obliged  to  give  way,  and 
(403)  C.  Marcius  Rutilus,  the  plebeian,  became  the  colleague 
of  a  Valerius  in  the  consulate. 

It  might  be  expected  from  the  names  of  the  consuls  that 
something  would  be  done  to  relieve  the  distress  of  the  peo- 
ple. Accordingly,  five  commissioners,  {quinqueviri  mensarii,) 
two  patricians  and  three  plebeians,  were  appointed  for  the 
liquidation  of  debts.  Money  was  advanced  out  of  the  treasu- 
ry to  those  who  could  give  good  security  ;  if  any  one  preferred 
making  his  property  over  to  his  creditors,  it  was  valued  and 
transferred  to  them.  As  many  objects  thus  changed  hands,  a 
new  census  was  required,  and  in  spite  of  all  the  efforts  of  the 
patricians,  who  had  recovered  the  whole  consulate  this  year, 
(404,)  C.  Marcius  Rutilus  was  chosen  the  first  plebeian  censor. 

In  the  year  405  the  Gauls  poured  once  more  into  Latium. 
The  consul  M.  Popillius  Laenas,  a  plebeian,  marched  against 
them,  and  took  a  position  on  a  strong  eminence.  The  Tri- 
arians  commenced  fortifying  a  camp  ;  the  rest  of  the  cohorts 
were  drawn  out ;  the  Gauls  charged  up-hill ;  the  consul  re- 
ceived a  slight  wound  and  had  to  retire ;  this  damped  the 
spirit  of  his  men,  but  he  soon  returned  and  restored  the  battle ; 

Q 


130  HISTORY   OP   ROME. 

the  Gauls  were  driven  down  into  the  plain,  and  they  aban- 
doned their  camp  and  fled  to  the  Alban  mountains,  whence 
they  spread  their  ravages  over  the  country  during  the  follow- 
ing winter. 

The  plebeian  consul  triumphed  ;  but  L.  Furius  Camillus, 
being  made  dictator  for  the  elections,  had  the  audacity  to 
nominate  himself  and  another  patrician  for  the  ensuing  year, 
(406,)  and  the  people  were  obliged  to  acquiesce.  A  large 
army,  composed  of  Latins  and  Romans,  was  formed,  which 
the  consul  Camillus  led  into  the  Pomptine  district,  where 
the  Gauls  now  were.  While  the  two  armies  lay  opposite 
each  other,  a  huge  Gallic  chief  advanced  and  challenged  any 
Roman  to  engage  him  in  single  combat.  M.  Valerius, a  mil- 
itary tribune,  b  young  man  of  three-and-twenty  years,  accept- 
ed the  challenge.  Just  as  the  combat  began,  a  raven  (corvus) 
came  and  perched  on  the  Roman's  head,  and  during  the  fight 
he  continually  assailed  with  his  beak  and  claws  the  face  and 
eyes  of  the  foeman,  whom  therefore  Valerius  easily  slew ; 
the  raven  then  rose,  and  flying  to  the  east  was  soon  out  of 
sight.  When  the  victor  went  to  strip  the  slain,  the  nearest 
Gauls  advanced  to  prevent  him ;  this  brought  on  a  general 
action  ;  the  Gauls  were  worsted  and  retired,  and  they  never 
again  appeared  in  Latium.  Valerius,  who  was  henceforth 
named  Corvus,*  was  rewarded  by  the  consul  with  ten  oxen 
and  a  golden  crown,  and  when  T.  Manlius  Torquatus  was 
made  dictator  for  the  elections,  he  named  him  consul  with 
the  plebeian  M.  Popillius  Laenas. 

In  the  consulate  of  T.  Manlius  Torquatus  and  C,  Plautius, 
(408,)  a  further  effort  was  made  to  relieve  the  debtors.  In- 
terest was  reduced  to  five  per  cent.,  {foenus  scmiunciarium,) 
and  debts  were  to  be  paid  in  four  equal  instalments,  one 
down,  and  the  remainder  in  one,  two,  and  three  years.  It 
is  not  unlikely  that  one  of  the  various  reductions  of  the 
weight  of  the  as  took  place  at  this  time. 

In  the  year  404  a  truce  for  forty  years  had  been  made 
with  the  Faliscans  and  the  Tarquinians  ;  the  ancient  league, 
as  we  have  seen,  had  been  renewed  with  the  Latins  and  Her- 
nicans ;  all  was  quiet  on  the  side  of  the  Volscians,  when 
Rome  had  to  enter  the  lists  with  a  foe  more  formidable  than 
any  she  had  yet  encountered. 

*  The  legend,  like  that  of  Torqu&tus,  was  invented  to  account  for  the 
name.  The  cognomen  was  not  new  ;  we  find  in  the  Fasti  for  363  an 
Aquilias  and  a  Fulvius  Corvus. 


FIRST    SAMNITE    WAR.  131 


CHAPTER  VI. 

FIRST    SAMNITE    WAR. MUTINY     IN    THE     ROMAN     ARMY. 

PEACE  WITH  THE  SAMNITES. LATIN  WAR. MANLIUS  PUT 

TO    DEATH    BY    HIS    FATHER. BATTLE    OF   VESUVIUS,    AND 

SELF-DEVOTION    OF    DECIUS.  REDUCTION    OF     LATIUM.  

PUBLILIAN  LAWS. SECOND  SAMNITE  WAR. SEVERITY  OF 

THE    DICTATOR    PAPIRIUS. SURRENDER    AT    THE     CAUDINE 

FORKS. CAPTURE  OF  SORA.  TUSCAN  WAR. PASSAGE  OF 

THE    CIMINIAN     WOOD. SAMNITE    AND     TUSCAN     WARS. 

PEACE  WITH  THE  SAMNITES. 

In  the  year  332  a  body  of  the  Samnites  had  descended  from 
their  mountains  into  the  rich  plains  of  Campania.  By  a 
composition  they  became  the  populus  or  ruling  order  in  the 
city  of  Vulturnum,  (henceforth  named  Capua,)  a  city  equal  in 
size  to  Rome  orVeii,  and  at  all  times  noted  for  its  luxury  and 
its  relaxing  effects  on  the  minds  of  those  who  abode  in  it.  The 
Samnites  of  the  city  and  plain  gradually  changed  their  man- 
ners, and  became  estranged  from  their  rugged  mountain 
brethren.  In  412  these  last,  urged  by  their  adventurous  spirit 
or  the  pressure  of  population,  came  down  on  the  country  be- 
tween the  Vulturnus  and  the  Liris,  inhabited  by  the  Sidi- 
cinians  and  other  Ausonian  peoples.  The  Sidicinians  applied 
to  the  Campanians  for  aid,  and  ihe  militia  of  Capua  took 
the  field  against  the  Samnites ;  but  the  hardy  mountaineers 
easily  routed  them  before  the  walls  of  Teanum,  and 
then  transferring  the  war  to  Campania,  came  and  encamped 
on  Mount  Tifata,  which  overhangs  Capua.  The  plundering 
of  their  lands,  the  burning  of  their  houses  and  homesteads, 
drew  the  Campanians  again  to  the  field ;  but  again  they  were 
defeated,  and  were  now  shut  up  in  their  town.  Finding 
their  own  strength  insufficient  they  looked  abroad  for  aid, 
and  none  appearing  so  well  able  to  afford  it  as  the  triple  fed- 
eration south  of  the  Tiber,  their  envoys  appeared  at  Rome. 
A  treaty  of  alliance  was  readily  formed  with  them  ;  and  as 
there  had  been  since  401  an  alliance  between  the  Romans 
and  Samnites,  envoys  weres  ent  to  inform  them  of  this  new 
treaty,  and  to  require  them  to  abstain  from  hostilities  against 
the  allies  of  the  federation.  The  Samnites  looked  on  this 
as  a  breach  of  treaty,  and  in  the  presence  of  the  Roman  en- 
voys orders  were  givien  to  lead  the  troops  into  Campania. 


I 


132  rtlSTORY   OP   ROME. 

War  against  the  Samnites  was  therefore  declared  at  Rome, 
and  the  consuls  ordered  to  take  the  field. 

The  consul  M.  Valerius  Corvus  led  his  legions  into  Cam- 
pania, where,  probably  in  consequence  of  some  reverses  of 
which  we  are  not  informed,  he  encamped  on  the  side  of 
Mount  Gaurus  over  Cumae.  The  Samnite  army  came  full 
of  confidence ;  the  consul  led  out  his  troops,  and  a  battle 
commenced,  highly  important  in  the  history  of  the  world,  as 
the  prelude  of  those  which  were  to  decide  whether  the  em- 
pire of  Italy  and  of  the  world  was  reserved  for  Rome  or  for 
Samnium. 

The  two  armies  were^qual  in  courage,  and  similarly  armed 
and  arrayed;  that  of  the  Samnites  consisted  entirely  of  in- 
fantry, and  the  horse,  which  the  consul  sent  first  into  action, 
could  make  no  impression  on  its  firm  ranks.  He  then  or- 
dered the  horse  to  fall  aside  to  the  wings,  and  led  on  the  le- 
gions in  person.  The  fight  was  most  obstinate :  each  seemed 
resolved  to  die  rather  than  yield  :  at  length  a  desperate 
effort  of  despair  on  the  part  of  the  Romans  drove  the  Sam- 
nites back  ;  they  wavered,  broke,  and  fled  to  their  intrenched 
camp,  which  they  abandoned  in  the  night  and  fell  back 
to  Suessula.  They  declared  to  those  who  asked  why  they 
had  fled,  that  the  eyes  of  the  Romans  seemed  to  be  on  fire, 
and  their  gestures  those  of  madmen,  so  that  they  could  not 
stand  before  them. 

The  other  consul,  A.  Cornelius  Cossus,  having  been  direct- 
ed to  invade  Samnium,  led  his  army  to  Saticula,  the  nearest 
Samnite  town  to  Capua.  The  Apennines  in  this  part  run 
in  parallel  ranges,  enclosing  fertile  valleys,  from  north  to 
south,  and  the  road  to  Beneventum  passes  over  them.  The 
consul,  advancing  carelessly,  had  crossed  the  first  range,  and 
his  line  of  march  had  reached  the  valley,  when  on  looking 
back  they  saw  the  wooded  heights  behind  them  occupied  by 
a  Samnite  army :  to  advance  was  dangerous,  retreat  seemed 
impossible.  In  this  perplexity  a  tribune  named  P.  Decius 
proposed  to  occupy  with  the  Principes  and  Hastates  of  one 
legion  (that  is,  1600  men)  a  height  over  the  way  along 
which  the  Samnites  were  coming.  The  consul  gave  permis- 
sion ;  Decius  seized  the  height,  which  he  maintained  against 
all  the  efforts  of  the  enemy  till  the  favorable  moment  was  lost, 
and  the  consul  hqd  led  back  his  army  and  gained  the  ridge. 
When  night  came,  the  Samnites  encamped  about  the  hill 
and  went  to  sleep ;  in  the  second  watch  Decius  led  down  his 
men  in  silence,  and  they  took  their  way  through  the  midst  of 


FIRST    SAMNITE    WAR.  133 

the  slumbering  foes.  They  had  gotten  half  through,  when 
one  of  the  Romans  in  stepping  over  the  Samnites  struck 
against  a  shield;  the  noise  awoke  those  at  hand;  the  alarm 
spread  ;  the  Romans  then  raised  a  shout,  fell  on  all  they  met, 
and  got  off  without  loss.  They  reached  their  own  camp 
while  it  was  yet  night,  but  they  halted  outside  of  it  till  the  day 
was  come.  At  dawn,  when  their  presence  was  announced, 
all  poured  forth  to  greet  them,  and  Decius  was  led  in  tri- 
umph through  the  camp  to  the  consul,  who  began  to  extol 
his  deeds ;  but  Decius  interrupted  him,  saying  that  now  was 
the  time  to  take  the  enemy  by  surprise.  The  army  was  led 
out,  and  the  scattered  Samnites  were  fallen  on  and  routed 
with  great  slaughter.  After  the  victory  the  consul  gave  De- 
cius a  golden  crown  and  a  hundred  oxen,  one  of  which  was 
white  with  gilded  horns ;  this  Decius  offered  in  sacrifice  to 
Father  Mars,  the  rest  he  gave  to  his  comrades  in  peril,  and 
each  soldier  presented  them  with  a  pound  of  corn  and  a  pint 
{sextaritis)  of  wine,  while  the  consul,  giving  them  each  an 
ox  and  two  garments,  assured  them  of  a  double  allowance  of 
corn  in  future.  The  army  further  wove  the  obsidional  crown 
of  grass  and  placed  it  on  the  brows  of  Decius,  and  a  similar 
crown  was  bestowed  on  him  by  his  own  men.  Such  were 
the  generous  arts  by  which  Rome  fostered  the  heroic  spirit 
in  her  sons ! 

Meantime  the  Samnites  at  Suessula  had  been  largely  rein- 
forced, and  they  spread  their  ravages  over  Campania.  The 
two  consular  armies  being  united  under  Valerius,  came  and 
encamped  hard  by  them,  and  as  Valerius  had  left  all  the  bag- 
gage and  camp-followers  behind,  the  Roman  army  occupied 
a  much  smaller  camp  than  was  usual  to  their  numbers.  De- 
ceived by  the  size  of  their  camp  the  Samnites  clamored  to 
storm  it,  but  the  caution  of  their  leaders  withheld  them. 
Necessity  soon  compelled  them  to  scour  the  country  in  quest 
of  provisions,  and  emboldened  by  the  consul's  inactivity  they 
went  to  greater  and  greater  distances.  This  was  what  Vale- 
rius waited  for ;  he  suddenly  assailed  and  took  their  camp, 
which  was  but  slightly  guarded  ;  then  leaving  two  legions  to 
keep  it,  he  divided  the  rest  of  the  army,  and  falling  on  the  scat- 
tered Samnites,  cut  them  every  where  to  pieces.  The  shields 
of  the  slain  and  fugitives  amounted,  we  are  told,  to  40,000, 
the  captured  standards  to  170.     Both  consuls  triumphed. 

While  the  Roman  arms  were  thus  engaged  in  Campania, 
the  Latins  invaded  the  territory  of  the  Pelignians,  the  kins- 
men and  allies  of  the  Samnites. 
12 


134  HISTORY   OP   ROME. 

No  military  events  are  recorded  of  the  year  413,  but  a 
strange  tale  of  an  insurrection  of  the  Roman  army  has  been 
handed  down.  The  tale  runs  thus :  The  Roman  soldiers 
who  in  412  had  been  left  to  winter  in  Capua,  corrupted  by 
the  luxury  which  they  there  witnessed  and  enjoyed,  formed 
the  nefarious  plan  of  massacring  the  inhabitants,  and  seizing 
the  town.  Their  projects  had  not  ripened  when  C.  Marcius 
Rutilus,  the  consul  for  413,  came  to  take  the  command.  He 
first,  to  keep  them  quiet,  gave  out  that  the  troops  were  to  be 
quartered  in  Capua  the  following  winter  also ;  then  noting 
the  ringleaders,  he  sent  them  home  under  various  pretexts, 
and  gave  furloughs  to  any  that  asked  for  them  :  his  colleague, 
Q.  Servilius  Ahala,  took  care  to  detain  all  who  came  to  Rome. 
The  stratagem  succeeded  for  some  time;  at  length  the 
soldiers  perceived  that  none  of  their  comrades  came  back  ; 
a  cohort  that  was  going  home  on  furlough  halted  at  Lautulae,* 
a  narrow  pass  between  the  sea  and  the  mountains  east  of 
Tarracina ;  here  it  was  joined  by  all  who  were  going  home 
singly  on  leave,  and  the  whole  number  soon  equalled  that  of 
an  army.  They  broke  up,  and  marching  for  Rome  encamped 
under  Alba  Longa.  Feeling  their  want  of  a  leader,  and 
learning  that  T.  Quinctius,  a  distinguished  patrician,  who 
being  lame  of  one  leg  from  a  wound  had  retired  from  the  city, 
was  living  on  his  farm  in  the  Tusculan,  they  sent  a  party  by 
night,  who  seized  him  in  his  bed,  and  gave  him  the  option 
of  his  death  or  becoming  their  commander ;  he  came  to  the 
camp,  was  saluted  as  general,  and  desired  to  lead  them  to 
Rome.  Eight  miles  from  the  city  they  were  met  by  an  army 
led  by  the  dictator  M.  Valerius  Corvus.  Each  side  shud- 
dered at  the  thought  of  civil  war,  and  readily  agreed  to  a 
conference.  The  mutineers  consented  to  intrust  their  cause 
to  the  dictator,  whose  name  was  a  sufficient  security.  He 
rode  back  to  the  city,  and  at  his  desire  the  senate  and  curies 
decreed  that  none  should  be  punished  for,  or  even  reproached 
with,  their  share  in  the  mutiny,  that  no  soldier's  name  should 
be  struck  out  of  the  roll  without  his  own  consent,  that  no 
one  who  had  been  a  tribune  should  be  made  a  centurion, 
and  that  the  pay  of  the  knights  (as  they  had  refused  to  join 
in  the  mutiny)  should  be  reduced.  And  thus  this  foripidable 
mutiny  commenced  in  crime,  and  ended  in  —  nothing! 
Another  and  a  far  more  probable  account  says  that  the 

*  There  were  probably  warm  springs  here ;  whence  the  name,  like 
Thermopylffi,  which  it  resembles  in  situation.    (Hist,  of  Greece,  p.  110.) 


LATIN    WAR.  135 

insurrection  broke  out  in  the  city,  where  the  plebeians  took 
arms,  and  having  seized  C.  Manlius  in  the  night,  and  forced 
him  to  be  their  leader,  went  out  and  encamped  four  miles 
from  the  city,  where,  as  it  would  seem,  they  were  joined  by 
the  army  from  Campania.  The  consuls  raised  an  army  and 
advanced  against  them ;  but  when  the  two  armies  met,  that 
of  the  consuls  saluted  the  insurgents,  and  the  soldiers  em- 
braced one  another.  The  consuls  then  advised  the  senate 
to  comply  with  the  desires  of  the  people,  and  peace  was  ef- 
fected. 

The  still  existing  weight  of  debt  seems  to  have  been  the 
cause  of  this  secession  also,  and  a  cancel  of  debts  to  have 
been  a  condition  of  the  peace.  Lending  on  interest  at  all  is 
said  to  have  been  prohibited  at  this  time  by  a.plebiscituni,  or 
decree  of  the  tribes ;  and  others  were  passed  forbidding  any 
one  to  hold  the  same  office  till  after  an  interval  of  ten  years, 
or  to  hold  two  offices  at  the  same  time.  It  was  also  decreed 
that  both  the  consuls  might  be  plebeians.  The  name  of  the 
tribune  L.  Genucius  being  mentioned,  it  is  probable  that  he 
was  the  author  of  the  new  laws. 

The  following  year  (414)  peace  was  made  with  the 
Samnites,  on  the  light  condition  of  their  giving  a  year's  pay, 
and  three  months'  provisions  to  the  Roman  army  ;  and  they 
were  allowed  to  make  war  on  the  Sidicinians.  This  moder- 
ation on  the  side  of  the  Romans  might  cause  surprise,  were 
it  not  that  we  know  they  now  apprehended  a  conflict  with  a 
powerful  people. 

The  Sidicinians  and  Campanians,  on  being  thus,  aban- 
doned, put  themselves  under  the  protection  of  the  Latins, 
with  whom  the  Volscians  also  formed  an  alliance.  The 
Hernicans  adhered  to  the  Romans,  and  the  Samnites  also 
became  their  allies.  War  between  Rome  and  Latium  now 
seemed  inevitable,  and  T.  Manlius  Torquatus,  and  P.  Decius 
Mus  *  were  made  consuls  for  415  with  a  view  to  it.  But  the 
Latins  would  first  try  the  path  of  peace  and  accommodation  ; 
and  at  the  call,  it  is  said,  of  the  Roman  senate,  their  two 
praetors,  and  ten  principal  senators,  repaired  to  Rome.  Au- 
dience was  given  them  on  the  Capitol,  and  nothing  could  be 
more  reasonable  than  their  demands.  Though  the  Latins 
were  now  the  more  numerous  people  of  the  two,  they  only 
required  a  union  of  perfect  equality,  —  one  of  the  consuls 
and  one  half  the  senate  to  be  Latins,  while  Rome  should  be 

*  This  was  the  Decius  who  had  saved  the  army  in  the  campaign  of  412. 


136  HISTORY  OP    ROME. 

the  seat  of  government,  and  Romans  the  name  of  the  united 
nation.  But  the  senate  exclaimed  against  the  unheard-of 
extravagance  of  these  demands,  the  gods  were  invoked  as 
witnesses  of  this  scandalous  breach  of  faith,  and  the  consul 
Manlius  vowed  that  if  they  consented  to  be  thus  dictated  to, 
he  would  come  girt  with  his  sword  into  the  senate-house,  and 
slay  the  first  Latin  he  saw  there.  Tradition  said  that  when 
the  gods  were  appealed  to,  and  the  Latin  praetor  Annius 
spoke  with  contempt  of  the  Roman  Jupiter,  loud  claps  of 
thunder  and  a  sudden  storm  of  wind  and  rain  told  the  anger 
of  the  deity,  and  as  Annius  went  off  full  of  rage,  he  tumbled 
down  the  flight  of  steps  and  lay  lifeless  at  the  bottom.  It 
was  with  difficulty  that  the  magistrates  saved  the  other  envoys 
from  the  fury  of  the  people.  War  was  forthwith  declared, 
and  the  consular  armies  were  levied. 

As  the  Latin  legions  were  now  in  Campania,  the  Romans 
instead  of  entering  Latium  took  a  circuit  through  the  coun- 
try of  the  Sabines,  Marsians,  and  Pelignians,  and  being 
joined  by  the  Samnites,  and  probably  the  Hernicans,  came 
and  encamped  before  the  Latins  near  Capua.  Here  a  dream 
presented  itself  to  the  consuls :  the  form  of  a  man,  of  size 
more  than  human,  appeared  to  each,  and  announced  that  the 
general  on  one  side,  the  army  on  the  other,  was  due  to  the 
Manes  and  Mother  Earth ;  of  whichever  people  the  general 
should  devote  himself  and  the  adverse  legions,  theirs  would 
be  the  victory.  The  victims  when  slain  portending  the  same, 
the  consuls  announced,  in  presence  of  their  officers,  that  he 
of  them  whose  forces  first  began  to  yield  would  devote  him- 
self for  Rome. 

To  restore  strict  discipline  and  to  prevent  any  treachery, 
the  consul  forbade,  under  pain  of  death,  any  single  combats 
with  the  enemy.  One  day  the  son  of  the  consul  Manlius 
chanced  with  his  troop  of  horse  to  come  near  to  where  the 
Tusculan  horse  was  stationed,  whose  commander,  Geminus 
Metius,  knowing  young  Manlius,  challenged  him  to  a  single 
combat.  Shame  and  indignation  overpowered  the  sense  of 
duty  in  the  mind  of  the  Roman;  they  ran  against  each 
other,  and  the  Tusculan  fell ;  the  victor,  bearing  the  bloody 
spoils,  returned  to  the  camp  and  came  with  them  to  his  father. 
The  consul  said  nothing,  but  forthwith  called  an  assembly 
of  the  army;  then,  reproaching  his  son  with  his  breach  of 
discipline,  he  ordered  the  lictor  to  lay  hold  of  him  and  bind 
him  to  the  stake.  The  assembly  stood  mute  with  horror; 
but,  when  the  axe  fell,  and  the  blood  of  the  gallant  youth 


SELF-DEVOTION    OF    DECIUS.  137 

gushed  forth,  bitter  lamentation,  mingled  with  curses  on  the 
f  uthless  sire,  arose.  They  took  up  the  body  of  the  slain,  and 
buried  it,  without  the  camp,  covered  with  the  spoils  he  had 
won ;  and  when,  after  the  war,  Manlius  entered  Rome  in 
triumph,  the  young  men  would  not  go  forth  to  receive  him, 
and  throughout  life  he  was  to  them  an  object  of  hatred  and 
aversion. 

The  war  between  Rome  and  Latium  was  little  less  than  ' 
civil ;  the  soldiers  and  officers  had  for  years  served  together 
in  the  same  companies,  and  they  were  all  acquainted.  They 
now  stood  in  battle  array,  opposite  each  other,  at  the  foot  of 
Mount  Vesuvius,  the  Samnites  and  Hernicans  being  opposed 
to  the  Oscan  allies  of  the  Latins.  Both  the  consuls  sacrificed 
before  the  battle  ;  the  entrails  of  the  victim  offered  by  Decius 
portended  misfortune,  but  hearing  that  the  signs  boded  well 
to  Manlius,  "  'Tis  well,"  said  he,  "  if  my  colleague  has  good 
signs."  In  the  battle,  the  left  wing,  led  by  Decius,  was  giving 
way ;  the  consul  saw  that  his  hour  was  come ;  he  called 
aloud  for  M.  Valerius,  the  Pontifex  Maximus,  and  standing 
on  a  naked  weapon,  clad  in  his  consular  robe,  his  head  veiled, 
and  his  hand  on  his  chin,  he  repeated  after  the  pontiff  the 
form  of  devotion.*  He  then  sent  the  lictors  to  announce  to 
Manlius  what  he  had  done,  and  girding  his  gown  tightly 
round  him,t  and  mounting  his  horse,  he  rushed  into  the 
midst  of  the  enemies.  He  seemed  a  destructive  spirit  sent 
from  heaven  ;  wherever  he  came  he  carried  dismay  and  death  ; 
at  length  he  fell,  covered  with  wounds.  The  ardor  of  the 
Roman  soldiers  revived,  and  the  skill  of  Manlius  secured  the 
victory.  When  the  front  ranks  (Antesignani)  of  both  armies 
were  wearied,  he  ordered  the  Accensi  to  advance ;  the  Latins 
then  sent  forward  their  Triarians;  and  when  these  were 
wearied,  the  consul  ordered  the  Roman  Triarians  to  rise  and 
advance.  The  Latins  having  no  fresh  troops  to  oppose  to  them 
were  speedily  defeated,  and  so  great  was  the  slaughter  that 

*  The  form  of  devotion  was  as  follows :  "  Janus,  Jupiter,  Father 
Mars,  Quirinus,  Bellona,  Lares,  ye  nine  gods,  (JVovenisiies,)  ye  Indiffites, 
ye  gods  who  have  power  over  us  and  our  enemies,  ye  gods  of  the  dead, 
you  I  pray,  worship,  implore  that  ye  will  give  strength  and  victory  to 
the  Roman  people  and  the  Quirites,  and  that  ye  will  send  terror,  fear, 
and  death  to  the  enemies  of  the  Roman  people  and  the  Quirites.  As  I 
have  spoken  so  do  I  devote  myself  for  the  republic,  the  army,  legions 
and  auxiliaries  of  the  Roman  people  and  Quirites,  and  with  me  the 
legions  and  auxiliaries  of  the  enemy  to  the  gods  of  the  dead  and  to 
Mother  Earth." 

t  The  Gabine  cincture. 

12*  R 


133  HISTORY    OF    ROME. 

but  one  fourth  of  their  army  escaped.  Next  day  the  body 
of  the  consul  Decius  was  found  amid^  heaps  of  slain,  and' 
magnificently  interred. 

sThe  Latins  fled  to  the  town  of  Vescia,  and,  by  the  advice 
of  their  praetor  Numisius,  a  general  levy  was  made  in  Latium, 
with  which,  in  reliance  on  the  reduced  state  of  the  Roman 
army,  he  ventured  to  give  the  consul  battle  at  Trifanum, 
•between  Sinuessa  and  Mintumae,  on  the  other  side  of  the 
Liris.  The  rout  of  the  Latins  was  so  complete,  that  few  of 
the  towns  thought  of  resistance  when  the  consul  entered 
Latium.  The  Latin  public  land,  two  thirds  of  that  of  Priver- 
num,  and  the  Falernian  district  of  Campania,  were  seized 
for  the  Roman  people,  and  assignments  of  2J  jugers  on  this 
side,  3J  on  the  other  side  of  the  Liris,  were  made  to  the  poor 
plebeians,  who  murmured  greatly  at  the  large  quantity  that 
was  reserved  as  domain.  As  the  Campanian  knights  (1600 
in  number)  had  remained  faithful  to  Rome,  to  compensate 
them  for  the  loss  of  the  Falernian  land,  they  were  given  the 
Roman  municipium,  and  each  assigned  a  rent-charge  of  350 
denars  a  year  on  the  state  of  Capua. 

The  Latin  and  Volscian  towns  continued  singly  to  resist, 
and  the  conquest  was  not  completed  till  the  year  417.  Pru- 
dence and  some  moderation  were  requisite  on  the  part  of 
Rome,  in  order  not  to  have  rebellious  subjects  in  the  Latins. 
Citizenship  therefore,  in  different  degrees,  was  conferred 
upon  them ;  but  they  were  forbidden  to  hold  national  diets, 
and  commerce  and  intermarriage  between  the  people  of  their 
different  towns  were  prohibited.  The  principal  families  of 
Velitrae  were  forced  to  go  and  live  beyond  the  Tiber,  and 
their  lands  were  given  to  Roman  colonists.  Their  ships  of 
war  were  taken  from  the  Antiates,  who  were  forbidden  to  pos- 
sess any  in  future.  Some  of  them  were  brought  to  Rome ; 
the  beaks  (rostra)  were  cut  off  others,  and  the  pulpit  {sug- 
gestum)  in  the  Forum  adorned  with  them,  whence  it  was 
named  the  Rostra.  The  municipium,  such  as  the  Latins  l;ad 
formerly  had  it,  was  given  to  the  people  of  Capua,  Cumae, 
Suessula,  Fundi,  and  FormiaB.  The  Latin  contingents  in 
war  were  henceforth  to  serve  under  their  own  officers,  apart 
from  the  legions. 

While  the  Roman  dominion  was  thus  extended,  without, 
wise  and  patriotic  men  of  both  orders  saw  the  necessity  of 
mternal  concord,  and  of  abolishing  antiquated  and  now  mis- 
chievous claims  and  pretensions.  In  416,  therefore,  the 
patrician  consul  Tib.  yEmilius  named  his  plebeian  colleague 


SECOND    SAMNITE    WAR.  139 

d.  Publilius  dictator,  who  then  brought  forward  the  following 
laws  to  complete  the  constitution.  1.  The  patricians  should 
give  a  previous  consent  to  any  law  that  was  to  be  brought 
before  the  centuries.  For  as  such  a  law  must  previously 
have  passed  the  senate,  and  the  centijries  could  make  no 
alteration  in  it,  and  more  wisdom  was  not  likely  to  be  found 
in  the  curies  than  in  the  senate  and  centuries  united,  their 
opposition  could  hardly  have  any  ground  but  prejudice  and  • 
spite.  2.  The  Plebiscita  should  be  binding  on  all  Quirites. 
The  object  of  this  law  was  the  same,  for  as  the  people  now 
occupied  the  place  of  the  former  Populus,  and  every  measure 
was  approved  of  and  prepared  in  the  senate,  the  leaving  the 
power  of  rejecting  it  with  the  patricians  was  needless,  and 
might  be  mischievous.  3.  One  of  the  censors  should  of 
necessity  be  a  plebeian.  The  curies  were  induced,  we  know 
not  how,  to  give  their  assent  to  these  laws.  Internal  discord 
was  now  at  an  end,  and  the  golden  age  of  Roman  heroism 
and  virtue  began. 

The  affairs  for  the  ten  succeeding  years  are  of  comparative 
unimportance.  The  Romans  and  Samnites  both  knew  that 
another  war  was  inevitable,  and  they  made  the  necessary 
preparations  for  it.  In  428  the  people  of  the  Greek  town  of 
PalaBopolis,  being  in  alliance  with  the  Samnites,  began  to 
exercise  hostilities  against  the  Roman  colonists  in  Campania. 
As  they  refused  to  give  satisfaction,  the  consul  Q,.  Publilius 
Philo  was  sent  against  them,  while  his  colleague,  L.  Cornelius 
Lentulus,  watched  the  motions  of  the  Samnites.  Publilius 
encamped  between  Palaeopolis  and  its  kindred  town  of  Neap- 
olis,  and  on  his  sending  word  home  that  there  was  a  large 
body  of  Samnite  and  Nolan  troops  in  them,  envoys  were  sent 
to  Samnium  to  complain  of  this  breach  of  treaty.  The  Sam- 
nites replied  that  those  were  volunteers,  over  whom  the  state 
had  no  control;  that  they  had  not,  as  the  Romans  had 
alleged,  excited  the  people  of  Fundi  and  Formise  to  revolt, 
while  the  Romans  had  sent  a  colony  to  Fregellae,  in  a  district 
which  of  right  was  theirs;  that,  in  fine,  there  was  no  use  in 
arguing  or  complaining  when  the  plain  between  Capua  and 
Suessula  offered  a  space  on  which  they  might  decide  whose 
should  be  the  empire  of  Italy.  The  Roman  fetial  then  veiled 
his  head,  and  with  hands  raised  to  heaven  prayed  the  gods  to 
prosper  the  arms  and  counsels  of  Rome  if  right  was  on  her 
side ;  if  not,  to  blast  and  confound  them.  Right  certainly  was 
not  on  the  side  of  Rome,  for  she  had  first  violated  the  treaty ; 
but  war  was_  not  to  be  averted,  and  it  was  now  to  begin. 


140  HISTORY   OP   ROME. 

A  Roman  army  entered  Samnium  on  the  Volscian  side, 
ravaged  the  country,  and  took  some  towns.  Publilius'  year 
having  expired,  his  command  was  continued  to  him  under 
the  new  title  of  Proconsul ;  and  soon  a  party  in  Neapolis, 
weary  of  the  insolence  of  the  foreign  soldiers,  began  to  plot 
a  surrender.  While  Nymphius,  one  of  the  leading  men,  in- 
duced the  Samnites  to  go  out  of  the  town,  to  embark  in  the 
'  ships  in  the  port,  and  make  a  descent  on  the  coast  of  Latium, 
Charilaus,  another  of  the  party,  closed  the  gate  after  them, 
and  admitted  the  Romans  at  another.  The  Samnites  instant- 
ly dispersed  and  fled  home ;  the  Nolans  retired  from  the  town 
unmolested. 

A  chief  ally  of  the  Samnites  were  the  people  of  the  Greek 
city  of  Tarentum ;  on  the  other  hand,  their  kinsmen,  the 
Apulians  and  Lucanians,  were  in  alliance  with  Rome.  But 
in  this  year  (429)  a  revolution,  of  the  nature  of  which  we 
are  uninformed,  took  place  in  Lucania,  the  consequence  of 
which  was  the  subjection  of  the  country  to  Samnium.  A 
similar  fate  menaced  the  Apulians,  if  not  aided ;  but  to  reach 
Apulia  it  was  necessary  to  pass  through  the  Vestine  country, 
the  people  of  which  (one  of  the  Marsian  confederacy)  re- 
fused a  passage.  It  was  apprehended  at  Rome,  that  if  the 
Vestinians  were  attacked,  the  other  three  states,  who  were 
now  neutral,  would  take  arms,  and  throw  their  weight  into 
the  Samnite  scale,  and  their  valor  was  well  known ;  but, 
on  the  other  hand,  the  importance  of  Apulia,  in  a  military 
point  of  view,  was  too  great  to  allow  it  to  be  lost.  The  consul 
D.  Junius  Brutus  accordingly  led  his  army  into  the  Vestine 
pountry :  a  hard-fought  victory,-  and  the  capture  of  two  of 
their  towns,  reduced  the  Vestinians  to  submission,  and  the 
other  members  of  the  league  remained  at  peace. 

The  other  consul,  L.  Camillus,  fell  sick  as  he  was  about 
to  invade  Samnium,  and  L.  Papirius  Cursor  was  made  dicta- 
tor ;  but  as  there  was  said  to  have  been  some  error  in  the 
auspices,  he  was  obliged  to  return  to  Rome  to  renew  them. 
As  he  was  departing  he  strictly  charged  Q,.  Fabius,  the 
master  of  the  horse,  whom  he  left  in  command,  not  to  risk 
an  action  on  any  account  during  his  absence.  But,  heedless 
of  his  orders,  Fabius  seized  the  first  occasion  of  engaging 
the  enemy,  over  whom  he  gained  a  complete  victory.  As 
soon  as  the  dictator  learned  what  had  occurred,  he  hastened 
to  the  camp,  breathing  fury.  Fabius,  warned  of  his  approach, 
besought  the  soldiers  to  protect  him.  Papirius  came,  ascend- 
ed his  tribunal,  summoned  the  master  of  the  horse  before 


SEVERITY    OF    THE  WCtATOR   PAPIRIUS.  141 

him,  and  demanded  why  he  had  disobeyed  orders,  and  thus 
weakened  the  military  discipline.  His  defence  but  irritated 
his  judge  the  more ;  the  lictors  approached  and  began  to  strip 
him  for  death ;  he  broke  from  them,  and  sought  refuge 
among  the  Triarians  :  confusion  arose  :  those  nearest  the 
tribunal  prayed,  the  more  remote  menaced  the  dictator  :  the 
legates  came  round  him,  entreating  him  to  defer  his  judg- 
ment till  the  next  day ;  he  would  not  hear  them.  Night  at 
length  ended  the  contest. 

During  the  night  Fabius  fled  to  Rome,  and  by  his  father's 
advice  made  his  complaint  of  the  dictator  to  the  assembled 
senate;  but  while  he  was  speaking,  Papirius,  who  had  fol- 
lowed him  from  the  camp  with  the  utmost  rapidity,  entered, 
and  ordered  his  lictors  to  seize  him.  The  senate  implored ; 
but  he  was  inexorable :  the  elder  Fabius  then  appealed  to 
the  people,  before  whom  he  enlarged  on  the  cruelty  of  the 
dictator.  Every  heart  beat  in  unison  with  that  of  the  time- 
honored  father;  but  when  Papirius  showed  the  rigorous 
necessity  of  upholding  military  discipline,  '  by  which  the 
state  was  maintained,  all  were  silent,  from  conviction.  At 
length  the  people  and  their  tribunes  united  with  Fabius 
and  the  senate  in  supplication,  and  the  dictator,  deeming  his 
authority  sufficiently  vindicated,  granted  life  to  his  master 
of  the  horse. 

Papirius,  when  he  returned  to  his  army,  gave  the  Samnitcs 
a  decisive  defeat ;  and  having  divided  the  spoil  among  his 
soldiers  to  regain  their  favor,  and  granted  a  truce  for  a 
year  to  the  enemy,  on  condition  of  their  giving  each  soldier 
a  garment  and  a  year's  pay,  he  returned  to  Rome  and  tri- 
umphed. 

The  events  of  the  next  year  (431)  are  dubious;  but  in 
432  the  camp  of  the  dictator,  A.  Cornelius  Arvina,  who  had 
entered  Samnium  without  sufficient  caution,  was  surprised 
by  a  superior  force  of  the  enemy.  The  day  closed  before 
an  attack  could  be  made,  and  in  the  night  the  dictator, 
leaving  a  number  of  fires  burning  in  the  camp,  led  away  his 
legions  in  silence.  But  the  enemy  were  on  the  alert,  and 
their  cavalry  hung  on  the  retiring  army,  to  slacken  its  pace. 
With  daybreak  the  Samnite  infantry  came  up,  and  the  dic- 
tator, finding  further  retreat  impossible,  drew  his  forces  up 
in  order  of  battle.  A  desperate  conflict  commenced ;  during 
five  hours  neither  sid6  gave  way  an  inch ;  the  Samnite  horse, 
seeing  the  baggage  of  the  Romans  but  slightly  guarded, 
made  for  it,  and  began  to  plunder ;  while  thus  engaged,  they 


143  HISTOBY   OF    ROME. 

were  fallen  on  and  cut  to  pieces  by  the  Roman  horse,  who 
then  turned  and  assailed  the  now  unprotected  rear  of  the 
Samnite  infantry.  The  dictator  urged  his  legions  to  new 
exertions ;  the  Samnites  wavered,  broke,  and  fled ;  their  gen- 
eral and  thousands  fell,  and  thousands  were  made  captives. 

Meantime,  on  the  side  of  Apulia  an  equally  glorious  vic- 
tory was  gained  by  the  consul  Q.  Fabius ;  and  the  spirit  of 
the  Samnites  being  now  quite  broken,  they  were  anxious 
for  peace  on  almost  any  terms.  As  it  is  usual  with  a  peo- 
ple, when  measures  to  which  they  have  given  their  full  and 
eager  consent  have  failed,  to  throw  the  entire  blame  on 
their  leaders,  so  now  the  Samnites  cast  all  their  misfortunes 
on  Papius  Brutulus,  one  of  their  principal  men,  and  resolved 
to  deliver  him  up  to  the  Romans  as  the  cause  of  the  war. 
The  noble  Samnite  saved  himself  from  disgrace  by  a  vol- 
untary death  ;  his  lifeless  corpse  was  carried  to  Rome ;  the 
Roman  prisoners,  of  whom  there  was  a  large  number,  were 
released,  and  gold  sent  to  ransom  the  Samnites.  The  ut- 
most readiness  to  yield  to  all  reasonable  terms  was  evinced ; 
but  nothing  would  content  the  haughty  senate  but  the  su- 
premacy,* and  sooner  than  thus  resign  their  national  inde- 
pendence the  Samnites  resolved  to  dare  and  endure  the 
uttermost. 

In  the  spring  (433)  the  Roman  legions,  led  by  the  con- 
suls T.  Veturius  and  Sp.  Postumius,  encamped  at  Callatia 
in  Campania,  with  the  intention  of  directing  their  entire 
force  against  Middle  Samnium.  The  Samnite  general,  C. 
Pontius,  spread  a  false  report  that  Nuceria,  in  Apulia,  was 
hard  pressed  by  a  Samnite  army,  and  on  the  point  of  sur- 
render, and  the  consuls  resolved  to  attempt  its  relief  with- 
out delay.  They  entered  the  Samnite  country,  and  advanced 
heedlessly  and  incautiously.  In  the  vicinity  of  the  town  of 
Caudium  they  reached  the  Caudine  Forks,  as  a  pass  was 
named  consisting  of  a  narrow  valley  between  two  wooded 
mountains;  a  hollow  way  led  into  it  at  one  end,  and  a  nar- 
row path  over  a  mountain,  which  closed  it  up,  led  out  of 
it  at  the  other  end.  Into  these  toils  the  consuls  conducted 
their  army ;  they  saw  nothing  to  alarm  them  till  the  head 
of  the  column  came  to  the  further  end,  and  found  the  pas- 
sage stopped  with  rocks  and  trunks  of  trees,  and  on  looking 
round  beheld  the  hills  occupied  by  soldiery.     To  advance 

*  Answering  to  the  hegemony  of  the  Greeks.  See  Hist,  of  Greece, 
passim. 


SURRENDER   AT    THE    CAUDINE    FORKS.  143 

or  to  retreat  was  nbw  equally  impossible;  they  threw  up 
entrenchments  in  the  valley,  and  remained  ther^,  the  Sam- 
nites  not  attacking  them,  in  reliance  on  the  aid  of  famine.* 
At  length,  when  their  food  was  spent  and  hunger  began  to 
be  felt,  they  sent  deputies  to  learn  the  will  of  the  Samnite 
leaders.  It  is  said  that  Pontius,  on  this  occasion,  sent  for 
his  father  to  advise  him :  this  venerable  old  man,  who,  in 
high  repute  for  wisdom,  dwelt  at  Caudium,  was  conveyed  to 
the  camp  in  a  wain,  and  his  advice  was  either  to  let  the 
Romans  go  free  and  uninjured,  or  totally  to  destroy  the 
army.  Pontius  preferred  a  middle  course,  and  the  old  man 
retired  shedding  tears  at  the  misery  he  saw  thence  to  come 
on  his  country.  The  terms  accorded  by  Pontius  were  the 
restoration  of  the  ancient  alliance  between  Rome  and  Sam- 
nium ;  the  withdrawal  of  Roman  colonies  from  places  be- 
longing to  the  Samnites ;  and  the  giving  back  all  places  to 
which  they  had  a  right.  The  arms  and  baggage  of  the 
vanquished  army  \yere,  as  a  matter  of  course,  to  be  given  up 
to  the  conquerors.  How  rarely  has  Rome  ever  granted  a 
Vanquished  enemy  terms  so  mild  as  these  !  Yet  the  Roman 
historians  had  the  audacity  to  talk  of  the  insolence  of  the 
victorious  Samnites ;  and  the  Roman  senate  and  people  had 
the  baseness,  meanness,  injustice,  and  barbarity  to  put  to 
an  ignominious  death  the  noble  Pontius  twenty-seven  years 
after ! 

These  terms  were  sworn  to  by  the  consuls  and  their  prin- 
cipal officers,  and  six  hundred  knights  given  as  hostages  till 
they  should  have  been  ratified  by  the  senate  and  people. 
A  passage  wide  enough  for  one  person  to  pass  was  made  in 
the  paling  with  which  the  Samnites  had  inclosed  them,t 
and  one  of  the  pales  laid  across  it,  and  through  this  door 
the  consuls,  followed  by  their  officers  and  men,  each  in  a 
single  garment,  came  forth.  Pontius  gave  beasts  of  burden 
to  convey  the  sick  and  wounded,  and  provisions  enough  to 
take  the  army  to  Rome. 

They  reached  Capua  before  nightfall ;  but  shame,  or  doubt 
of  the  reception  they  might  meet  with,  kept  them  from  en- 
tering. Next  morning  all  the  people  came  out  to  meet  and 
console  them.  Refreshments  and  aid  of  every  kind  were 
given  them,  and  they  thence  pursued  their  way  to  Rome. 

*  There  is  good  reason  to  suppose  that  the  Romans  made  a  desperate 
efFort  to  extricate  themselves,  and  were  driven  back  with  great  slaugh- 
ter.    (Appian,  Samn.  iv.  6.     Cicero  de  Oif.  iii.  30.) 

f  Appian,  Samn.  iv.  6.     Gellius,  xvii.  21. 


.,*• 


144  HISTORY   OF   ROME. 

.»  When  the  news  of  their  calamity  had  first  reached  Roine, 
a  total  cessation  of  business  (justitium)  had  taken  place, 
and  a  general  levy,  either  to  attempt  their  relief  or  to  de- 
fend the  city,  had  been  made,  and  all  orders  of  people  went 
into  mourning.*  In  this  state  of  things  the  disgraced  army 
reached  the  gates.  It  there  dispersed ;  those  who  lived  in 
the  country  went  away ;  those  who  dwelt  in  the  city  slunk 
with  night  to  their  houses.  The  consuls,  having  named  a 
dictator  for  the  consular  elections,  laid  down  their  office. 

The  senate  having  met  to  consider  of  the  peace,  the  con- 
sul Publilius  called  on  Sp.  Postumius  to  give  his  opinion. 
He  rose  with  downcast  looks,  and  advised  that  himself  and 
all  who  had  sworn  to  the  treaty  should  be  delivered  up  to 
the  Samnites,  as  having  deceived  them,  by  making  a  treaty 
without  the  consent  of  the  Roman  people,  and  a  fresh  army 
be  levied,  and  the  war  renewed;  and  though  there  was 
hardly  a  senator  who  had  not  a  son  or  some  other  relative 
among  the  hostages,  it  was  resolved  to  do  as  he  advised. 
Postumius  and  his  companions  were  taken  bound  to  Cau- 
dium;  the  fetial  led  them  before  the  tribunal  of  Pontius, 
and  made  the  surrender  of  them  in  the  solemn  form.  Pos- 
tumius, as  he  concluded,  struck  his  knee  against  the  fetial's 
thigh,  and  drove  him  off,  crying,  *'  I  am  now  a  Samnite, 
thou  an  ambassador :  I  thus  violate  the  law  of  nations ;  ye 
may  justly  now  resume  the  war." 

Pontius  replied  with  dignity:  he  treated  this  act  of  re- 
ligious hypocrisy  as  a  childish  manoeuvre ;  he  told  the  Ro- 
mans that  if  they  wished  to  renounce  the  treaty  with 
any  show  of  justice,  they  should  place  their  legions  as  they 
were  when  it  was  made ;  but  their  present  conduct  he  said 
was  base  and  unworthy,  and  he  would  not  accept  such  a 
surrender  as  this,  or  let  them  thus  hope  to  avert  the  anger 
of  the  gods.  He  then  ordered  Postumius  and  the  other 
Romans  to  be  unbound  and  dismissed. 

The  war  therefore  was  renewed,  and  the  Romans,  re- 
turning to  their  original  plan  of  carrying  it  on  simulta- 
neously in  Apulia  and  on  the  western  frontier  of  Samnium, 
sent  the  consul  L.  Papirius  to  lay  siege  to  Nuceria,  which 
was  now  in  the  hands  of  the  Samnites,  while  his  colleague 
Publilius  led  his  army  into  Samnium.  Papirius  sat  down 
before  Nuceria;  but  a  Samnite  army  came  and  encamped 
at  hand,  and  rendered  his  communication  with  Arpi,  whence 

*  Appian,  Samn.  iv.  7. 


SAMNITE    WAR.  145 

he  drew  his  supplies,  so  difficult,  that  it  was  only  by  the 
knights  going  and  fetching  corn  in  little  bags  on  their  horses 
that  any  food  could  be  had  in  the  camp.  The  arrival  of 
Publilius  with  the  other  army  relieved  them ;  and  after  a 
vain  attempt  of  the  Tarentines  to  mediate  a  peace,  the  Ro- 
mans attacked  and  stormed  the  Samnite  camp  with  great 
slaughter,  which,  though  they  were  unable  to  retain  it,  had 
the  effect  of  making  the  Samnite  army  retire,  and  leave 
Nuceria  to  its  fate.  Its  garrison  of  seven  thousand  men 
then  capitulated,  on  condition  of  a  free  passage,  without 
arms  or  baggage.* 

The  two  following  years  (436,  437)  were  years  of  truce, 
in  consequence  of  exhaustion  on  both  sides ;  and  during  the 
trUce  the  Romans  so  extended  and  consolidated  their  do- 
minion in  Apulia  that  no  attempt  was  ever  after  made  to 
shake  it  off.  In  438  the  war  was  resumed,  and  the  Ro- 
mans laid  siege  to  Saticula,  an  Oscan  town  not  far  from 
Capua  and  in  alliance  with  the  Samnites,  Meantime  the 
Samnites  had  taken  the  colonial  town  of  Plistica ;  and  the 
Volscians  of  Sora,  having  slain  their  Roman  garrison,  re- 
volted to  them.  They  then  made  an  attack  on  the  Roman 
army  before  Saticula,  but  were  defeated  with  great  loss, 
and  the  town  immediately  surrendered.  The  Roman  armies 
then  entered  and  ravaged  Samnium,  and  the  seat  of  war 
was  transferred  to  Apulia.  While  the  consular  armies  were 
thus  distant,  the  Samnites  made  a  general  levy,  and  came 
and  took  a  position  at  Lautulae,  in  order  to  cut  off  the  com- 
munication between  Rome  and  Campania.  The  dictator, 
Q,.  Fabius,  instantly  levied  an  army,  and  hastened  to  give 
them  battle.  The  Romans  were  utterly  defeated,  and  fled 
from  the  field;  the  master  of  the  horse,  Q,.  Aulius,  unable 
to  outlive  the  disgrace  of  flight,  maintained  his  ground,  and 
fell  fighting  bravely.  Revolt  spread  far  and  wide  among 
the  Roman  subjects  in  the  vicinity ;  the  danger  was  great 
and  imminent,  but  the  fortune  of  Rome  prevailed,  and  the 
menacing  storm  dispersed. 

In  440  the  Samnites  sustained  a  great  defeat  near  a  town 
named  Cinna,  whose  site  is  unknown.  The  Campanians, 
who  were  in  the  act  of  revolting  at  this  time,  submitted  on 
the  appearance  of  the  dictator,  C.  Maenius,  and  the  most 
guilty  withdrew  themselves  from  punishment  by  a  voluntary 

*  As  it  appears  from  Diodorus  (xv.  72)  that  Nuceria  was  not  taken 
till  439,  Niebuhr  regards  this  as  a  fiction  of  the  Romans,  anxious  to 
efface  as  soon  as  possible  the  disgrace  at  Caudium. 

13  s 


146  HISTORY    OF    ROME. 

death.  The  Ausonian  towns,  Ausona,  Minturnae,  and  Ve- 
scia,  were  taken  by  treachery  and  stratagem,  and  their  pop- 
ulation massacred  or  enslaved,  as  a  fearful  lesson  to  the 
subjects  of  Rome  against  wavering  in  their  allegiance. 

The  united  armies  of  the  consuls,  M.  Poetelius  and  C. 
Sulpiciug,  entered  Samnium  on  the  side  of  Caudium ;  but 
while  they  were  advancing  timidly  and  cautiously  through 
the  formidable  region,  they  learned  that  the  Samnite  army 
was  wasting  the  plain  of  Campania.  They  led  back  their 
forces,  and  erelong  the  two  armies  encountered.  The 
tactics  of  the  Romans  were  new  on  this  occasion ;  the  left 
wing,  under  Pcetelius,  was  made  dense  and  deep,  while  the 
right  was  expanded  more  than  usual.  Poetelius,  adding  the 
reserve  to  his  wing,  made  a  steady  charge  with  the  whole 
mass :  the  Samnites  gave  way ;  their  horse  came  to  their 
aid;  but  Sulpicius  coming  up  with  his  body  of  horse,  and 
charging  them  with  the  whole  Roman  cavalry,  put  them  to 
the  rout.  He  then  hastened  to  his  own  wing,  which  now 
was  yielding;  the  timely  reinforcement  turned  the  beam, 
and  the  Samnites  were  routed  on  all  sides  with  great 
slaughter. 

The  following  year  (441)  was  marked  by  the  capture  of 
Nola  and  some  other  towns,  and  by  the  founding  of  colo- 
nies to  secure  the  dominion  which  had  been  acquired.  In 
442  Sora  was  taken  in  the  following  manner.  A  deserter 
carne  to  the  consuls,  and  offered  to  lead  some  Roman  sol- 
diers by  a  secret  path  up  to  the  Arx,  or  citadel,  which  was 
a  precipitous  eminence  over  the  town.  His  offer  was  ac- 
cepted ;  the  legions  were  withdrawn  to  a  distance  of  six 
miles  from  the  town  ;  some  cohorts  were  concealed  in  a  wood 
at  hand,  and  ten  men  accompanied  the  Soran  traitor. 
They  clambered  in  the  night  up  through  the  stones  and 
bushes,  and  at  length  reached  the  area  of  the  Arx.  Their 
guide,  showing  them  the  narrow  steep  path  that  led  thence 
down  to  the  town,  desired  them  to  guard  it  while  he  went 
down  and  gave  the  alarm.  He  then  ran  through  the  town 
crying  that  the  enemy  was  on  the  Arx ;  and  when  the  truth 
of  his  report  was  ascertained,  the  people  prepared  to  fly 
from  the  town  ;  but  in  the  confusion,  the  Roman  cohorts 
broke  in  and  commenced  a  massacre.  At  daybreak  the 
consuls  came ;  they  granted  their  lives  to  the  surviving  in- 
habitants, with  the  exception  of  two  hundred  and  twenty- 
five,  who,  as  the  authors  of  the  revolt,  were  brought  bound 
to  Rome,  and  scourged  and  beheaded  in  the  Forum. 


TUSCAN    WAR.  147 

The  tide  of  war  had  turned  so  decidedly  against  the 
Samnites,  that  one  or  two  campaigns  more  of  the  whole 
force  of  Rome  would  have  sufficed  for  their  subjugation. 
But  just  now  a  new  enemy  was  about  to  appear,  who  was 
likely  to  give  ample  employment  to  the  Roman  arms  for 
some  time.  The  Etruscans,  who,  probably  owing  to  their 
contests  with  and  fears  of  the  Gauls,  had  for  many  years 
abstained  from  war  with  the  Romans,  now,  either  moved 
by  the  instances  of  the  Samnites  or  aware  of  the  danger  of 
suffering  Rome  to  grow  too  powerful,  began  (442)  to  make 
such  hostile  manifestations  that  great  alarm  prevailed  at 
Rome.  Various  circumstances,  however,  kept  off  the  war 
for  nearly  two  years  longer. 

In  443  all  the  peoples  of  Etruria,  except  the  Arretines, 
having  sent  their  troops,  a  Tuscan  army  prepared  to  lay 
siege  to  the  frontier  town  of  Sutrium.  The  consul  Q,.  iEmil- 
ius  came  to  cover  it,  and  the  two  armies  met  before  it.  At 
daybreak  of  the  second  day,  the  Tuscans  drew  out  in  order 
of  battle;  the  consul,  having  made  his  men  take  their 
breakfast,  led  them  out  also.  The  two  armies  stood  opposite 
each  other,  each  hesitating  to  begin,  till  after  noon ;  the 
Tuscans  then  fell  on :  night  terminated  a  bloody  and  inde- 
cisive action;  each  retired  to  their  camp,  and  neither  felt 
themselves  strong  enough  to  renew  the  conflict  next  day. 

The  next  year  (444)  a  Tuscan  army  laid  siege  to  Su- 
trium, aud  the  consul  Q,.  Fabius  hastened  from  Rome  to 
its  relief  As  his  troops  were  far  inferior  to  the  Etruscans 
in  number,  he  led  them  cautiously  along  the  hills.  The 
enemy  drew  out  his  forces  in  the  plain  to  give  him  battle ; 
but  the  consul,  fearing  to  descend,  formed  his  array  on  the 
hill  side  in  a  part  covered  with  loose  stones.  Relying  on 
their  numbers  the  Tuscans  charged  up-hill;  the  Romans 
hurled  stones  and  missile  weapons  on  them,  and  then  char- 
ging, with  the  advantage  of  the  ground,  drove  them  back,  and 
the  horse  getting  between  them  and  their  camp  forced  them 
to  take  refuge  in  the  adjacent  Ciminian  wood.  Their  camp 
became  the  prize  of  the  victors. 

Like  so  many  others  in  the  early  Roman  history,  this 
battle  has  probably  been  given  a  magnitude  and  an  impor- 
tance which  does  not  belong  to  it,  and  the  truth  would  seem 
to  be  that  the  consul  only  repulsed  the  advanced  guard  of 
the  enemy,  and  not  feeling  himself  strong  enough  to  engage 
their  main  army,  resolved  to  create  a  diversion  by  invaSing 
their  country. 


148  HISTORY    OF    ROME. 

"  'North  of  Sutrium,  (Sutri,)  near  the  modern  Viterbo,  ex- 
tends a  range  of  high  ground,  which  at  that  time  formed 
the  boundary  between  Roman  and  independent  Etruria.  It 
was  covered  with  natural  wood,  and  was  thence  named  the 
Ciminian  Wood.  Over  this  barrier  Fabius  resolved  to  lead 
his  troops.  He  sent  to  inform  the  senate  of  his  plan,  that 
measures  might  be  taken  for  the  defence  of  the  country 
during  his  absence.  Meantime  he  sent  one  of  his  brothers, 
who  spoke  the  Tuscan  language,  in  disguise  to  penetrate 
to.  the  Umbrians,  and  to  form  alliances  with  any  of  them 
that  were  hostile  to  the-  Etruscans.  The  only  people, 
however,  whom  he  found  so  disposed  were  the  Camertines, 
who  agreed  to  join  the  Romans  if  they  penetrated  to  their 
country. 

The  senate,  daunted  at  the  boldness  of  Fabius'  plan,  sent 
five  legates  and  two  tribunes  of  the  people  to  forbid  him  to 
enter  the  wood,  perhaps  to  arrest  him  if  he  should  hesitate 
to  obey.  But  they  came  too  late :  in  the  first  watch  of  the 
night  Fabius  sent  forward  his  baggage,  the  infantry  fol- 
lowed ;  he  himself  a  little  before  sunrise  led  his  horse  up  to 
the  enemy's  camp,  as  it  were  to  reconnoitre.  In  the  evening 
he  returned  to  his  own  camp,  and  then  set  out  and  came 
up  with  his  infantry  before  night.  At  daybreak  they  reached 
the  summit  of  the  mountain,  and  beheld  the  smiling  plains 
of  Etruria  stretched  out  before  them.  They  hastened  to 
seize  the  offered  prey :  the  Etruscan  nobles  assembled  their 
vassals  to  oppose  them,  bnt  they  could  offer  no  effectual  re- 
sistance, to  the  disciplined  troops  of  Rome.  The  Roman 
army  spread  their  ravages  as  far  as  Perusia,  where  they  en- 
countered and  totally  defeated  a  combined  army  of  Etrus- 
cans and  Umbrians;  and  Perusia,  Cortona,  and  Arretium, 
three  of  the  leading  cities  of  Etruria,  sent  forthwith  to  sue 
for  peace,  which  was  granted  for  a  term  of  thirty  years. 
As  the  Romans  were  returning  to  the  relief  of  Sutrium 
they  encountered  at  the  lake  of  Vadimo,  between  Perusia 
and  Falerii,  another  Etruscan  army,  of  select  troops.*  The 
two  armies  engaged  hand  to  hand  at  once ;  the  first  ranks 
fought  till  they  were  exhausted ;  the  reserve  then  advanced, 
and  the  victory  was  only  decided  by  the  Roman  knights  dis- 
mounting and  taking  their  place  in  the  front  of  the  line. 

While  Fabius  was   conducting   the  war  in   Etruria,  his 


•  They  were  bound  by  a  solemn  oath  {lege  sacrata)  to  fight  to  their 
uttermost.'   These  were  probably  the  troops  of  the  western  towns. 


SAMNITE    AND    TUSCAN    WARS.  149 

colleague  C.  Marcius  had  entered  Samnium  and  taken 
Allifaj  and  some  other  strongholds.  The  Samnites  collected 
their  forces  and  gave  hnn  battle ;  and  the  Romans  were  de- 
feated, several  of  their  officers  slain,  the  consul  himself 
wounded,  and  their  communication  with  Rome  cut  off. 
When  the  news  reached  Rome,  the  senate  at  once  resolved 
to  create  a  dictator,  and  to  send  him  off  to  the  relief  of  Mar- 
cius with  the  reserve  which  had  been  levied  on  account  of 
the  Etruscan  war.  Their  hopes  lay  in  L.  Papirius  Cursor ; 
but  the  dictator  could  only  be  named  by  the  consul ;  there 
was  no  way  of  reaching  Marcius,  and  Fabius  had  not  yet 
forgiven  the  man  who  had  thirsted  after  his  blood.  The 
resolve  of  the  senate  was  borne  to  Fabius  by  consulars ;  they 
urged  him  to  sacrifice  his  private  feelings  to  the  good  of 
his  country  :  he  heard  them  in  silence,  his  eyes  fixed  on  the 
ground,  and  they  retired  in  uncertainty.  In  the  stillness  of 
the  night  he  arose,  and,  as  was  the  usage,  named  L.  Papirius 
dictator,  and  in  the  morning  he  again  listened  in  silence  to  the 
thanks  and  praises  of  the  deputies.  The  dictator  immedi- 
ately set  forth  and  relieved  the  army  of  Marcius,  but,  impet- 
uous as  he  was,  he  contented  himself  for  some  time  with 
merely  observing  the  enemy. 

At  length  the  time  arrived  for  a  decisive  action.  The 
Samnite  army  was  divided  into  two  corps,  the  one  clad  in 
purple,  the  other  in  white  linen  tunics,  the  former  having 
their  brazen  shields  adorned  with  gold,  the  latter  with  sil- 
ver :  the  shields  were  broad  above,  narrow  below.  Each 
soldier  wore  a  crested  helmet,  a  large  sponge  to  protect  his 
breast,  and  a  greave  on  his  left  leg.  In  the  battle  the  Ro- 
man dictator  led  the  right  wing  against  the  gold-shielded, 
the  master  of  the  horse,  C.  Junius,  the  left  against  the  sil- 
ver-shielded Samnites.  Junius  made  the  first  impression 
on  the  enemy;  the  dictator  urged  his  men  to  emulation,  and 
the  Roman  horse  by  a  charge  on  both  flanks  completed  the 
victory.  The  Samnites  fled  to  their  camp,  but  were  unable 
to  retain  it,  and  ere  night  it  was  sacked  and  burnt.  The 
golden  shields  adorned  the  dictator's  triumph,  and  they  were 
then  given  to  the  money-dealers  to  ornament  their  shops 
in  the  Forum. 

Q.  Fabius  was  continued  in  the  consulate  for  445,  and 
P.  Decius  given  to  him  as  his  colleague;  the  former  had 
the  Samnite,  the  latter  the  Etruscan  war.  Fabius  routed 
the  Marsians  and  Pelignians,  who  had  now  joined  against 
Rome,  and  he  then  led  his  legions  into  Umbria,  whose  peo- 
13* 


150  HISTORY    or    ROME. 

pie  had  taken  arms,  and  with  little  difficulty  reduced  them 
to  submission.  Decius  meantime  had  forced  the  Etruscans 
to  sue  for  peace,  and  a  year's  truce  was  granted  them  on 
their  giving  each  soldier  two  tunics,  and  a  year's  pay  for  the 
army. 

In  the  remaining  years  of  the  war,  the  exhausted  powers 
of  the  Samnites  could  offer  but  a  feeble  resistance  to  the 
legions  of  Rome.  On  the  occasion  of  a  defeat  which  they 
sustained  in  446,  the  proconsul  Q.  Fabius  adopted  the 
novel  course  of  dismissing  the  Samnite  prisoners,  and  sell- 
ing for  slaves  those  of  their  allies.  Among  these  there 
were  several  Hernicans,  whom  he  sent  to  Rome;  the  senate 
having  instituted  an  inquiry  into  the  conduct  of  the  Her- 
nican  people  in  this  affair,  those  who  had  urged  them  to 
give  aid  to  the  Samnites  now  engaged  them  to  take  arms 
openly.  All  the  Hernican  peoples  but  three  shared  in  the 
war ;  but  they  made  a  stand  little  worthy  of  their  old  re- 
nown ;  one  short  campaign  sufficed  for  their  reduction,  and 
they  were  placed  (447)  on  nearly  the  same  footing  as  the 
Latins  had  been  thirty  years  before. 

The  Samnites  at  length  (449)  sued  for  peace,  and  ob- 
tained it  on  the  condition  they  had  so  often  spurned,  that  of 
acknowledging  Rome's  supremacy,  in  other  words,  of  yield- 
ing up  their  independence ;  but  peace  on  any  terms  was 
now  necessary,  that  they  might  recruit  their  strength  for 
future  efforts.  The  Romans  then  turned  their  arms  against 
the  iEquians,  who  had  joined  the  Hernicans  in  aiding  the 
Samnites,  and  in  fifty  days  the  consuls  reduced  and  de- 
stroyed forty-one  of  their  Cyclopian^walled  towns.  The 
Marsian  League  sought  and  obtained  peace  from  Rome. 


I 


THIRD    SAMNITE    AND    ETEUSCAN    WARS.  151 


CHAPTER  VII. 

THIRD    SAMNITE  AND    ETRUSCAN  WARS. BATTLE    OF    SENTI- 

NUM,  AND    SELF-DEVOTION    OF    DECIUS. BATTLE    OF  AQUI- 

LONIA.  REDUCTION     OF      THE     SAMNITES. HORTENSIAN 

LAW. WORSHIP     OF     -lESCULAPIUS     INTRODUCED. LUCA- 

NIAN    WAR. ROMAN     EMBASSY    INSULTED    AT    TARENTUM. 

GALLIC    AND    ETRUSCAN   WAR. 

Four  years  (450 — 454)  passed  away  in  tolerable  tranquil- 
lity. In  454  Lucanian  envoys  appeared  at  Rome,  praying 
for  aid  against  the  Samnites,  who  had  entered  their  country 
in  arms,  given  them  various  defeats,  and  taken  several  of 
their  towns.  The  Romans,  in  right  of  their  supremacy, 
sent  orders  to  the  Samnites  to  withdraw  their  troops  from 
Lucania :  the  Samnites'  pride  was  roused  at  being  thus  re- 
minded of  their  subjection  ;  they  ordered  the  fetiais  off  their 
territory,  and  war  was  at  once  declared  against  them  by 
the  Romans.  As  the  Etruscans  were  now  also  in  arms, 
the  consul  L.  Cornelius  Scipio  went  against  them,  while 
his  colleague  Cn.  Fulvius  invaded  Samnium. 

Scipio  engaged  a  numerous  Etruscan  army  near  Vola- 
terrae.  Night  ended  a  hard-fought  battle,  leaving  it  un- 
decided. The  morn  however  revealed  that  the  advantage 
was  on  the  side  of  the  Romans,  as  the  enemy  had  aban- 
doned their  camp  during  the  night.  Having  placed  his 
baggage  and  stores  at  Falerii,  Scipio  spread  his  ravages 
over  the  country,  burning  the  villages  and  hamlets;  and  no 
army  appeared  to  oppose  him.  Fulvius  meantime  carried 
on  the  war  with  credit  in  Samnium.  Near  Bovianum  he 
defeated  a  Samnite  army,  and  took  that  town  and  another 
named  Aufidena. 

The  rumor  of  the  great  preparations  which  the  Samnites 
and  the  Etruscans  were  said  to  be  making  caused  the  peo- 
ple to  elect  Q,.  Fabius  to  the  consulate,  against  his  will ; 
and  at  his  own  request  they  joined  with  him  P.  Decius.  As 
the  Etruscans  remained  quiet,  both  the  consuls  invaded 
Samnium,  (455,)  Fabius  entering  from  Sora,  Decius  from 
Sidicinum.  The  Samnites  gave  Fabius  battle  near  Tifer- 
nura  :  their  infantry  stood  firm  against  that  of  the  Romans; 
the  charge  of  the  Roman  cavalry  had  as  little  effect.  At 
length,  when  the  reserve  had  come  to  the  front,  and  the 


152  HISTORY   OP   ROME. 

contest  was  most  obstinate,  the  legate  Scipio,  whom  the 
consul  had  sent  away  during  th6  action  with  the  Hastates 
of  the  first  legion,  appeared  on  the  neighboring  hills.  Both 
armies  took  them  for  the  legions  of  Decius ;  the  Samnites* 
courage  fell,  that  of  the  Romans  rose,  and  evening  closed 
on  their  victory.  Decius  had  meantime  defeated  the  Apu- 
lians  at  Maleventum.  During  five  months  both  armies 
ravaged  Samnium  with  impunity;  the  traces  of  five-and- 
forty  camps  of  Decius,  of  eighty-six  of  Fabius,  bore  witness 
to  the  sufferings  of  the  ill-fated  country. 

The  next  year  (456)  the  Samnites  put  into  execution  a 
daring  plan  which  they  had  formed  in  the  preceding  war, 
namely,  sending  an  army,  to  be  paid  and  supported  out  of 
their  own  funds,  into  Etruria,  leaving  Samnium  meantime 
at  the  mercy  of  the  enemy.  The  Samnite  army,  under 
Gellius  Egnatius,  on  arriving  there,  was  joined  by  the 
troops  of  most  of  the  Tuscan  states ;  the  Umbrians  also 
shared  in  the  war,  and  it  was  proposed  to  take  Gallic  mer- 
cenaries into  pay.  The  consul  Ap.  Claudius  entered  Etru- 
ria with  his  two  legions  and  twelve  thousand  of  the  allies, 
but  he  did  not  feel  himself  strong  enough  to  give  the  con- 
federates battle.  The  consul  Volumnius,  probably  by  com- 
mand of  the  senate,  led  his  army  to  join  him ;  but  Appius 
gave  him  so  ungracious  a  reception  that  he  was  preparing 
to  retire,  when  the  officers  of  the  other  army  implored  him 
not  to  abandon  them  for  their  general's  fault.  Volumnius 
then  agreed  to  remain  and  fight :  a  victory  was  speedily 
gained  over  the  Etruscans  and  Samnites,  whose  general 
Egnatius  was  unfortunately  absent ;  7300  were  slain,  2120 
taken,  and  their  camp  was  stormed  and  plundered. 

As  Volumnius  was  returning  by  rapid  marches  to  Sam- 
nium, he  learned  that  the  Samnites  had  taken  advantage 
of  his  absence  to  make  a  descent  on  Campania,  where  they 
had  collected  an  immense  booty.  He  forthwith  directed 
his  course  thither:  at  Cales  he  heard  that  they  were  en- 
camped on  the  Volturnus,  with  the  intention  of  carrying 
their  prey  into  Samnium  to  secure  it.  He  came  and  en- 
camped near  them,  but  out  of  view ;  and  when  the  Samnites 
had  before  day  sent  forward  their  captives  and  booty  under 
an  escort,  and  were  getting  out  of  their '  camp  to  follow 
them,  they  were  suddenly  fallen  on  by  |he  Romans:  the 
camp  was  stormed  with  great  slaughter ;  the  captives,  hear- 
ing the  tumult,  unbound  themselves,  and  fell  on  their  escort : 


I 


THIRD    SAMNITE    AND    ETRUSCAN    WARS.  153 

the  Samnites  were  routed  on  all  sides;  6000  were  slain. 
2500  were  taken,  7400  captives,  with  all  their  property, 
were  recovered. 

The  union  of  the  Samnites,  Etruscans,  Umbrians,  and 
Gauls,  which  had  now  been  formed,  caused  the  greatest 
apprehension  at  Rome,  and  the  people  insisted  on  electing 
Ci.  Fabius  consul,  to  which  he  would  only  consent  on  con- 
dition of  his  approved  mate  in  arms  P.  Decius  being  given 
him  for  colleague.  His  wish  was  complied  with.  The 
four  legions  of  the  former  year  were  kept  on  foot  and  com- 
pleted, two  new  ones  raised,  and  two  armies  of  reserve 
formed.  The  number  of  troops  furnished  by  the  allies  was 
considerable :  among  them  were  one  thousand  Campanian 
horse,  for  as  the  Gauls  were  strong  in  this  arm,  it  was  ne- 
cessary to  augment  its  force. 

During  the  winter  Fabius  set  out,  with  four  thousand  foot 
and  six  hundred  horse,  to  take  the  command  in  Etruria. 
As  he  drew  nigh  to  the  camp  of  Ap.  Claudius  he  met  a  party 
sent  out  for  firewood ;  he  ordered  them  to  go  back  and  use 
the  palisades  of  their  camp  for  the  purpose.  This  gave  con- 
fidence to  the  soldiers,  and  to  keep  up  their  spirits,  he  never 
let  them  remain  stationary,  but  moved  about  from  place 
to  place.  In  the  spring  (457)  he  returned  to  Rome  to  ar- 
range the  campaign,  leaving  the  command  in  Etruria  with 
L.  Scipio. 

The  consuls  led  their  main  force  to  join  the  troops  left 
with  Scipio ;  one  army  of  reserve  under  Fulvius  was  sta- 
tioned in  the  Faliscan,  another  in  the  Vatican  district. 
But  the  Gauls,  pouring  in  by  the  pass  of  Camerinum, 
had  annihilated  a  Roman  legion  left  to  defend  it;  their 
numerous  cavalry  spread  over  Umbria  and  got  between 
Scipio  and  Rome;  and  as  they  rode  up  to  the  consular 
army,  the  heads  of  the  slain  Romans,  which  they  carried 
on  spears  and  hung  at  their  horses'  breasts,  made  the  Ro- 
mans believe  that  Scipio's  whole  army  had  been  destroyed. 
A  junction  however  was  formed  with  him,  and  L.  Volum- 
nius,  who  commanded  in  Samnium,  was  directed  to  lead 
his  legions  to  reinforce  those  of  the  consuls.  The  three 
united  armies  then  crossed  the  Apennines,  and  took  a  po- 
sition in  the  Sentine  country  to  menace  the  possessions  of 
the  Senonian  Gauls ;  and  the  two  armies  of  reserve  ad- 
vanced in  proportion,  the  one  to  Clusium,  the  other  to 
the  Faliscan  country.  The  confederates  came  and  en- 
camped  before  the  Romans;   but  they  avoided  an  action, 

T 


154  HISTORY    OF    ROME. 

probably  waiting  for  reinforcements.  The  consuls,  learning 
by  deserters  that  the  plan  of  the  enemy  was  for  the  Gauls 
and  Saninites  to  give  them  battle,  and  the  Etruscans  and 
Umbrians  to  fall  on  their  camp  during  the  action,  sent 
orders  to  Fulvius  to  ravage  Etruria:  this  called  a  large 
part  of  the  Etruscans  home,  and  the  consuls  endeavored  to 
bring  on  an  engagement  during  their  absence.  For  two 
entire  days  they  vainly  sought  to  draw  the  confederates  to 
the  field  ;  on  the  third  their  challenge  was  accepted. 

Fabius  commanded  on  the  right,  opposed  to  the  Samnites 
and  the  remaining  Etruscans  and  Umbrians;  Decius  led 
the  left  wing  against  the  Gauls.  Ere  the  fight  began,  a 
wolf  chased  a  hind  from  the  mountains  down  between  the 
two  armies;  the  hind  sought  refuge  among  the  Gauls,  by 
whom  she  was  killed ;  the  wolf  ran  among  the  Romans,  who 
made  way  for  him  to  pass;  and  this  appearance  of  the 
favorite  of  Mars  was  regarded  as  an  omen  of  victory. 

In  the  hope  of  tiring  the  Samnites,  Fabius  made  his  men 
act  rather  on  the  defensive,  and  he  refrained  from  bringing 
his  reserve  into  action.  Decius,  on  the  other  hand,  know- 
ing how  impetuous  the  first  attack  of  the  Gauls  always  was, 
resolved  not  to  await  it;  he  charged  with  both  foot  and 
horse,  and  twice  drove  back  the  numerous  Gallic  cavalry; 
but  when  his  horse  charged  a  third  time,  the  Gauls  sent 
forward  their  war-chariots,  which  spread  confusion  and  dis- 
may among  them;  they  fled  back  among  their  infantry  ;  the 
victorious  Gauls  followed  hard  upon  them.  The  battle,  and 
with  it  possibly  the  hopes  of  Rome,  was  on  the  point  of 
being  lost,  when  Decius,  who  had  resolved,  if  defeat  im- 
pended, to  devote  himself  like  his  father  at  Vesuvius,  de- 
sired the  pontiif  M.  Livius,  whom  he  had  kept  near  him 
for  the  purpose,  to  repeat  the  form  of  devotion ;  then  add- 
ing to  it  these  words,  **  I  drive  before  me  dismay  and 
flight,  slaughter  and  blood,  the  anger  of  the  powers  above 
and  below ;  with  funereal  terrors  I  touch  the  arms,  weapons, 
and  ensigns  of  the  foe  ;  the  same  place  shall  be  that  of  my 
end  and  of  the  Gauls  and  Samnites,"  he  spurred  his  horse, 
riished  into  the  thick  of  the  enemies,  and  fell  covered  with 
wounds.  The  pontiff,  to  whom  Decius  had  given  his 
lictors,  encouraged  the  Romans ;  a  part  of  Fabius'  reserve 
came  to  their  support :  the  Gauls  stood  in  a  dense  mass 
covered  with  their  shields;  the  Romans,  collecting  the pila 
that  lay  on  the  ground  hurled  them  on  them ;  but  the 
Gauls  stood  unmoved,  till  Fabius,  who  by  bringing  forward 


BATTLE    OF    AQUILONIA.  155 

his  reserve  and  causing  his  horse  to  fall  on  their  flank,  had 
driven  the  Samnites  to  their  camp,  sent  five  hundred  Cam- 
panian  horse,  followed  by  the  Principes  of  the  third  legion, 
to  attack  them  in  the  rear ;  they  then  broke  and  fled.  Fabius 
again  assailed  the  Samnites  under  their  rampart ;  their  gen- 
eral, Gellius  Egnatius,  fell,  and  the  camp  was  taken.  The 
confederates  lost  25,000  men  slain  and  8000  taken ;  7000 
was  the  loss  in  the  wing  led  by  Decius,  1200  in  that  of 
Fabius.  This  was  one  of  the  most  important  victories  ever 
achieved  by  the  arms  of  Rome. 

The  following  year  the  war  was  continued  in  Etruria 
and  Samnium,  and  a  bloody  battle  was  fought  at  Nuceria. 
The  next  year  (459)  the  consuls,  L.  Papirius  Cursor  and 
Sp.  Carvilius,  took  the  field  against  a  Samnite  army,  which 
all  the  aids  of  superstition  had  been  employed  to  render 
formidable. 

All  the  fighting  men  of  Samnium  were  ordered  to  appear 
at  the  town  of  Aquilonia.  A  tabernacle,  two  hundred  feet 
square  and  covered  with  linen,  was  erected  in  the  midst  of 
the  camp.  Within  it  a  venerable  man  named  Ovius  Pac- 
tius  offered  sacrifice  after  an  ancient  ritual  contained  in  an 
old  linen  book.  The  Imperator  or  general  then  ordered  the 
nobles  to  be  called  in  separately :  each  as  he  entered  beheld 
through  the  gloom  of  the  tabernacle  an  altar  in  the  centre, 
about  which  lay  the  bodies  of  the  victims,  and  around  which 
stood  centurions  with  drawn  swords.  He  was  required  to 
swear,  imprecating  curses  on  himself,  his  family,  and  his 
race,  if  he  did  not  in  the  battle  go  whithersoever  the  Impe- 
rator ordered  him,  if  he  fled,  or  did  not  slay  any  one 
whom  he  saw  flying.  Some  of  the  first  summoned,  refusing 
to  swear,  were  slain,  and  their  bodies  lying  among  those 
of  the  victims  served  as  a  warning  to  others.  The  Impe- 
rator selected  ten  of  those  who  had  thus  sworn,  each  of 
whom  was  directed  to  choose  a  man  till  the  number  of 
sixteen  thousand  was  completed,  which  was  named,  from 
the  tabernacle,  the  Linen  Legion.  Crested  helmets  and  su- 
perior arms  were  given  them  for  distinction.  The  rest  of 
the  army,  upwards  of  20,000  men,  was  little  inferior  in  any 
respect  to  the  Linen  Legion. 

The  Roman  armies  entered  Samnium ;  and  while  Papir- 
ius advanced  to  Aquilonia,  Carvilius  sat  down  before  a 
fortress  named  Cominium,  about  twenty  miles  from  that 
place.  The  ardor  for  battle  is  said  to  have  been  shared 
to  such  an  extent  by  all  in  the  Roman  army,,  th^t,  the  Ejil- 


156  HISTORY    OF    ROME. 

larius,  or  keeper  of  the  sacred  chickens,  made  a  false  report 
of  favorable  signs.  The  truth  was  told  to  the  consul  as 
he  was  going  into  battle ;  but  he  said  the  signs  reported  to 
him  were  good,  and  only  ordered  the  Pullarii  to  be  placed 
in  the  front  rank ;  and  when  the  guilty  one  fell  by  the  chance 
blow  of  a  pilum,  he  cried,  that  the  gods  were  present,  the 
guilty  was  punished.  A  raven  croaked  aloud  as  he  spoke; 
he  ordered  the  trumpets  to  sound  and  the  ^war-cry  to  be 
raised. 

The  Samnites  had  sent  off  twenty  cohorts  to  the  relief 
of  Cominium;  their  spirits  were  depressed,  but  they  kept 
their  ground,  till  a  great  cloud  of  dust,  as  if  raised  by  an 
army,  was  seen  on  one  side.  For  the  cOnsul  had  sent  off 
before  the  action  Sp.  Nautius,  with  the  mules  and  their 
drivers,  and  some  cohorts  of  the  allies,  with  directions  to  ad- 
vance during  the  engagement,  raising  all  the  dust  they  could. 
Nautius  now  came  in  view,  the  horseboys  having  boughs  in 
their  hands,  which  they  dragged  along  the  ground ;  and 
the  arms  and  banners  appearing  through  the  dust,  made 
both  Romans  and  Samnites  think  that  an  army  was  ap- 
proaching. The  consul  then  gave  the  sign  for  the  horse  to 
charge;  the  Samnites  broke  and  fled,  some  to  Aquilonia, 
some  to  Bovianum.  The  number  of  their  slain  is  said  to  have 
been  30,340,  and  3870  men  and  97  banners  were  captured. 
Aquilonia  and  Cominium  were  both  taken  on  the  same  day. 
The  consuls  remained  in  Samnium,  ravaging  the  country,  till 
the  falling  of  the  snow  obliged  them  to  leave  it  for  the  winter.* 

In  the  next  campaign,  (460,)  the  Samnite  general  C.  Pon- 
tius gave  the  Roman  consul  d.  Fabius  Gurges,  son  of  the 
great  Fabius,  a  complete  defeat.  A  strong  party  in  the 
senate,  the  enemies  of  the  Fabian  house,  were  for  depriving 
the  consul  of  his  command;  but  the  people  yielded  to  the 
prayers  of  his  father,  who  implored  them  to  spare  him  this 
disgrace  in  his  old  age;  and  he  himself  went  into  Samnium 
as  legate  to  his  son.  At  a  place  whose  name  is  unknown, 
the  battle  which  decided  the  fate  of  Samnium  was  fought. 
Fabius  gained  the  victory  by  his  usual  tactics,  of  keeping 
his  reserve  for  the  proper  time.  The  Samnites  had  twenty 
thousand  slain  and  four  thousand  taken,  among  whom  was 
their  great  Imperator  C.  Pontius.     In  the  triumph  of  Fabius 

*  Livy's  first  Decad  ends  here.  We  have  only  an  epitome  of  the  next, 
which  contained  the  history  to  the  year  534.  We  are  now  for  some 
years  left  to  the  guidance  of  the  epitomators,  and  the  fragments  of 
Appiaa  and  Dion. 


WORSHIP    OF    ^SCULAPIUS    INTRODUCED.  157 

Gurges,  his  renowned  father  humbly  followed  his  car  on 
horseback ;  and  C.  Pontius  was  led  in  bonds,  and  then,  to 
Rome's  disgrace,  beheaded.  Q,  Fabius  Maximus,  one  of 
the  greatest  men  that  Rome  ever  produced,  died  it  is  prob- 
able shortly  afterwards.* 

The  Samnite  war,  which  had  lasted  with  little  intermis- 
sion for  nine-and-forty  years,  was  now  terminated  by  a  peace, 
of  the  terms  of  which  we  are  not  informed.  The  Sabines, 
who,  after  a  cessation  of  one  hundred  and  fifty  years,  fool- 
ishly took  up  arms  against  Rome,  were  easily  reduced  by 
the  consul  M'.  Curius  Dentatus,  and  a  large  quantity  of  their 
land  was  taken  from  them.  Much  larger  assignments  than 
the  usual  seven  jugers  might  now  be  made,  but  Curius 
deemed  it  unwise  to  pass  that  limit ;  and  when  the  people 
murmured,  he  replied,  that  he  was  a  pernicious  citizen  whom 
the  land  which  sufficed  to  support  him  did  not  satisfy.  He 
refused  for  himself  five  hundred  jugers  and  a  house  at  Tifata 
which  the  senate  offered  him,  and  contented  himself  with 
a  farm  of  seven  jugers  in  the  Sabine  country. 

The  length  of  the  Samnite  war,  its  consequent  great  ex- 
pense, the  destruction  of  property  in  the  invaded  districts, 
the  neglect  of  agriculture  on  account  of  the  incessant  mil- 
itary service,  and  other  causes  which  will  easily  suggest 
themselves,  caused  considerable  distress  at  Rome,  and  it 
even  came  to  a  secession.  The  people  posted  themselves 
on  the  Janiculan;  but  the  dictator,  Q,.  Hortensius,  induced 
them  to  submit,  either  by  an  abolition  ol*  a  considerable 
reduction  of  the  amount  of  their  debts.  This  is  the  last 
secession  we  read  of  in  Roman  history. 

On  this  occasion  the  Hortensian  law,  which  made  the 
plebiscits  binding  on  the  whole  nation,  was  passed ;  a  meas- 
ure probably  caused  by  the  obstinacy  and  caprice  of  the 
patricians,  but  pregnant  with  evil,  from  which  however  the 
good  fortune  of  Rome  long  preserved  her.  It  was  as  if  with 
ns  a  measure  which  had  passed  the  Commons  were  to  be- 
come at  once  the  law  of  the  land.f 

Among  the  events  of  this  period,  the  introduction  of  the 
worship  of  yEsculapius  deserves  to  be  noticed.     In  the  year 

*  The  reason  of  his  surname  Maxiraus  will  be  given  in  the  next 
chapter. 

t  Niebuhr  says  that  the  language  of  the  law  must  have  been  ut  quod 
tributim  plehes  jussisset  populum  teneret.     He  thinks  (Hist,  of  Rome 
ii.  366)  tifiat  the  Hortensian  law  did  away  with  the  veto  of  the  senate, 
as  the  Publilian  did  with  that  of  the  curies. 
14 


153  HISTOBT    OF   ROME. 

459  an  epidemic  prevailed  at  Rome,  and  the  Sibylline  books 
being  consulted,  it  was  directed  to  fetch  iEsculapius  to 
Rome.  A  trireme  with  ten  deputies  was  sent  to  Epidaurus 
for  that  purpose.  The  legend  relates,  that  the  senate  of 
that  place  agreed  that  the  Romans  should  take  whatever 
the  god  should  give  them ;  and  that  as  they  prayed  at  the 
temple,  a  huge  snake  came  out  of  the  sanctuary,  went  on 
to  the  town  five  miles  off,  through  the  streets,  to  the  harbor, 
thence  on  board  the  Roman  trireme,  and  into  the  cabin  of 
Q,.  Ogulnius.  The  envoys,  having  been  instructed  in  the 
worship  of  the  god,  departed,  and  a  prosperous  wind  brought 
them  to  Antium.  Here  they  took  shelter  from  a  storm; 
the  snake  swam  ashore,  and  remained  twined  round  a  palm- 
tree  at  the  temple  of  Apollo  while  they  staid.  When  they 
reached  Rome  he  left  the  ship  again,  and  swimming  to  the 
island,  disappeared  in  the  spot  where  the  temple  of  the  god 
was  afterwards  built.* 

Rome  now  rested  from  war  for  some  years.  At  length 
(468)  the  Tarentines,  who  had  been  the  chief  agents  in 
exciting  the  Samnite  war,  succeeded  in  inducing  the 
Etruscans,  Umbrians,  and  Gauls  in  the  north,  and  the  Lu- 
canians,  Bruttians,  and  Samnites  in  the  south,  to  take  arms 
simultaneously  against  her.  The  commencement  was  the 
hostility  exercised  by  the  Lucanians  against  the  people  of 
the  Greek  town  of  Thurii,  who,  despairing  of  aid  from  any 
other  quarter,  applied  to  the  Romans ;  and  a  Roman  army 
came  and  relieved  the  town. 

In  470,  a  Roman  army  under  C.  Fabricius  came  to  the 
relief  of  Thurii,  which  was  again  invested  by  a  united  army 
of  Lucanians  and  Bruttians.  The  spirits  of  the  Romans 
sank  as  they  viewed  their  own  inferiority  of  force :  when 
lo!  a  youth  of  gigantic  stature,  wearing  a  double-crested 
helm,  like  those  on  the  statues  of  Mars,  was  seen  to  seize  a 
scaling-ladder,  and  mount  the  rampart  of  the  enemies'  camp. 
The  courage  of  the  Romans  rose,  that  of  the  foes  declined, 
and  a  signal  victory  crowned  the  arms  of  Rome.  When 
next  day  the  consul  sought  that  valiant  youth,  to  bestow 
on  him  the  suitable  meed,  he  was  nowhere  to  be  found. 
Fabricius  then  directed  a  thanksgiving  to  Father  Mars  (as 
it  must  have  been  he)  to  be  held  throughout  the  army.t 

*  The  simple  truth  probably  is,  that  the  Romans  obtained  one  of  the 
tame  sacred  snakes  that  were  kept  at  the  temple  of  ^sculapius  :  the 
details  are  of  course  legendary. 

t  Val.  Max.  i.  8.  6.    This^  says  Niebuhr,  is  the  la8t;poetic  rlegend  in 


ROMAN   EMBASSY   INSULTED.  159 

Many  other  victories  succeeded;  and  no  Roman  general 
had  as  yet  acquired  so  much  booty  as  Fabricius  did  in  this 
campaign. 

When  the  Roman  army  retired,  a  garrison  was  left  for 
the  defence  of  Thurii.  As  it  was  only  by  sea  that  a  com- 
munication could  be  conveniently  kept  up  with  it,  a  squadron 
of  ten  triremes,  under  the  duumvir  L.  Valerius,  was  now 
in  these  waters.  Some  years  before,  it  had  been  an  article 
in  a  treaty  with  the  Tarentines,  that  no  Roman  ship  of  war 
should  sail  north  of  the  Lacinian  cape;  but  as  they  had 
taken  no  notice  of  it  now,  and  there  was  as  yet  no  open 
hostility  between  them  and  the  Romans,  Valerius  entered 
the  harbor  of  Tarentum.  The  people  unluckily  happened 
at  that  moment  to  be  assembled  in  the  theatre,  which  com- 
manded a  view  of  the  sea;  a  demagogue  named  Philocharis, 
a  man  of  the  vilest  character,  pointing  to  the  Roman  ships, 
reminded  them  of  the  treaty;  the.  infuriated  populace  rushed 
on  shipboard,  attacked  and  sunk  four,  and  took  one  of  the 
Roman  vessels.  The  duumvir  was  among  those  who  per- 
ished. The  Tarentines  then  sent  a  force  against  Thurii, 
where  they  plundered  the  town  and  banished  the  principal 
citizens  :  the  Roman  garrison  was  dismissed  unmolested. 

The  Romans,  as  they  had  an  Etruscan  war  on  their  hands, 
were  anxious  to  accommodate  matters  amicably  in  the  south. 
Their  demands  therefore  were  very  moderate ;  they  only  re- 
quired the  release  of  those  taken  in  the  trireme;  the  restora- 
tion of  the  Thurians,  and  restitution  of  their  property ;  and 
the  surrender  of  the  authors  of  the  outrage.  Audience  was 
given  to  the  envoys  in  the  theatre.  When  they  entered,  the 
people  laughed  at  the  sight  of  their  purple-bordered  prcB^ 
textcB,  and  the  faults  of  language  committed  by  L.  Postu- 
mius,  the  chief  of  the  embassy,  redoubled  their  merriment. 
As  the  envoys  were  leaving  the  theatre,  a  drunken  buffoon 
came  and  befouled  the  robe  of  Postumius  in  the  most  abom- 
inable manner:  the  peals  of  laughter  were  redoubled;  but 
Postumius,  holding  up  his  robe,  cried  out,  "Ay,  laugh, 
Inugh  while  ye  may;  ye  will  weep  long  enough  when  ye 
have  to  wash  this  out  in  blood."  He  displayed  at  Rome 
his  unwashed  garment;  and  the  senate,  after  anxious  de- 
liberation, declared   war   against   Tarentum.  (471.)      The 


the  Roman  history.  He  is  mistaken ;  the  Tyndarids  appeared  in  584, 
mounted  on  their  white  horses,  to  one  P.  Vatienus,  to  announce  the 
defeat  of  Perseus.     Cic,  de  N.  D.  ii.  2. 


160  HISTORY    OF   ROME. 

consul  L.  iEmilius  Barbula  was  ordered  to  lead  his  army 
thither,  to  offer  anew  the  former  terms,  and  if  they  were 
refused  to  carry  on  the  war  with  vigor.  The  Tarentines, 
however,  would  listen  to  no  terms;  they  resorted  to  their 
usual  system  of  seeking  aid  from  the  mother-country,  and 
sent  an  embassy  to  invite  over  Pyrrhus,  the  renowned 
king  of  Epirus.  Meantime  ^milius  laid  waste  their  coun- 
try, took  several  strong  places,  and  defeated  them  in  the 
field. 

We  will  now  turn  our  view  northwards.  In  469  a  com- 
bined army  of  Etruscans  and  Senonian  Gauls  having  laid 
siege  to  Arretium,  the  prsetor  L.  Metellus  hastened  to  its  re- 
lief; but  his  army  Was  totally  defeated,  thirteen  thousand 
men  being  slain,  and  nearly  all  the  remainder  made  prison- 
ers. When  an  embassy  was  sent  to  the  Gauls  to  complain 
of  breach  of  treaty,  and  to  redeem  the  prisoners,  the  Gallic 
prince  Britomaris,  to  avenge  his  father,  who  had  fallen  at 
Arretium,  caused  the  fetials  to  be  murdered.  The  consul 
P.  Cornelius  Dolabella  instantly  marched  through  the  Sa- 
bine and  Picentian  country  into  that  of  the  Senones, 
whom  he  defeated  when  they  met  him  in  the  field :  he  then 
wasted  the  lands,  burned  their  open  villages,  put  all  the 
men  to  death,  and  reduced  the  women  and  children  to 
slavery.  Britomaris,  who  was  taken  alive,  was  reserved  to 
grace  the  consul's  triumph. 

The  Boians,  who  dwelt  between  the  Senones  and  the  Po, 
were  filled  with  rage  and  apprehension  at  the  fate  of  their 
brethren,  and  assembling  all  their  forces  they  entered 
Etruria,  where  being  joined  by  the  Etruscans  and  the 
remnant  of  the  Senones,  they  pressed  on  for  Rome ;  but 
at  the  lake  Vadimo  the  consular  armies  met,  and  nearly  an- 
nihilated their  whole  army ;  the  Senones,  it  is  said,  in  the 
frenzy  of  despair  put  an  end  to  themselves  when  they  saw 
the  battle  lost.  The  Gauls  appeared  again  the  next  year 
(470)  in  Etruria ;  but  a  signal  defeat  near  Populonia  forced 
them  to  sue  for  peace,  which,  on  account  of  the  war  in  the 
south,  the  Romans  readily  granted. 

The  war  with  the  Etruscans  continued  till  472,  when,  in 
consequence  of  that  with  Pyrrhus,  the  Romans  concluded 
a  peace  with  them  on  most  favorable  terms.  This  peace 
terminated  the  conflict,  which  had  now  lasted  for  thirty 
years,  and  converted  Etruria  into  Rome's  steadiest  and 
most  faithful  ally. 


ARRIVAL    OF    PYRRHUS    IN    ITALY.  161 


CHAPTER  VIII. 

ARRIVAL    OP   PYRRHUS    IN    ITALY.  BATTLE  ON  THE  SIRIS. 

CINEAS    AT    ROME. APPROACH    OF    PYRRHUS    TO    ROME.  

BATTLE  OF  ASCULUM. PYRRHUS  IN    SICILY. BATTLE    OF 

BENEVENTUM.  DEPARTURE    OF    PYRRHUS. ITALIAN    AL- 
LIES.  CENSORSHIP    OF     AP.     CLAUDIUS.  CHANGE  IN  THE 

CONSTITUTION. THE     ROMAN    LEGION.  ROMAN    LITERA- 
TURE. 

Pyrrhus,  the  ablest  and  most  ambitious  prince  of  his  time, 
lent  a  willing  ear  to  the  invitation  of  the  Italian  Greeks  which 
held  out  to  him  such  a  prospect  of  extensive  dominion.*  He 
sent  his  minister,  the  orator  Cineas,t  back  with  some  of  the 
envoys,  to  assure  the  Tarentines  of  aid;  and  shortly  after- 
wards Milo,  one  of  his  generals,  landed  with  3000  men  to 
garrison  the  town.  Having  assembled  an  army  of  20,000 
foot,  3000  horse,  2000  archers,  500  slingers,  and  twenty 
elephants,  the  king  himself  set,  sail  (472)  for  Italy;  but 
a  storm  came  on  and  dispersed  his  fleet ;  several  ships  were 
Slink  or  cast  away  ;  and  Pyrrhus,  who  had  escaped  with  dif- 
ficulty, reached  Tarentum  with  but  a  small  force.  He  did 
not  seek  to  exercise  any  authority  till  the  rest  of  his  troops 
were  arrived;  but  as  soon  as  he  found  himself  sufficiently 
strong,  he  began  to  employ  the  dictatorial  power  with  which 
he  had  been  invested.  The  Tarentines  had  thought  they 
would  have  nothing  to  do  but  pay  money,  while  the  king's 
troops  were  fighting ;  but  Pyrrhus  let  them  know  that  they 
also  must  share  in  the  toils  and  dangers  of  war.  He  set 
guards  at  the  gates  to  prevent  them  from  running  out  of  the 
town,  as  they  were  doing;  he  shut  up  the  theatre,  forbade  all 
public  meals  and  banquets,  ordered  the  young  men  to  practise 
military  exercises  in  their  gymnasia,  and  sent,  under  various 

*  For  the  war  with  Pyrrhus  see  the  epitomators  and  Plut., 
Pyrrhus. 

t  Cineas  was  a  Thessalian  by  birth,  an  able,  eloquent,  and  noble- 
minded  man,  well  worthy  of  the  friendship  of  the  greatest  prince  of  the 
age,  to  whom  he  was  as  a  good  genius.  It  is  said  that  he  had  been  a 
hearer  of  Demosthenes ;  but  that  can  hardly  have  been,  as  the  great 
Athenian  had  now  been  dead  forty-one  years.  Cineas'  style  of  oratory 
was  also  totally  different  from  his. 

14*  u 


162  HISTORY   OF    ROME. 

pretexts,  the  principal  men  ov^r  to  Epirus,  that  they  might 
serve  as  hostages  in  case  of  any  conspiracy  against  his  au- 
thority. 

The  consul  P.  Valerius  Laevinus  having  led  his  army  into 
Lucania,  Pyrrhus,  who  had  not  yet  been  joined  by  his  allijes, 
wrote  to  him,  offering  to  arbitrate  between  the  Romans  and 
the  Tarentines,  which  last  he  said  he  could  compel  to  give 
satisfaction.  LsBvinus  replied  that  the  king  must  first  atone 
for  having  entered  Italy ;  that  words  were  needless,  as  Fa- 
ther Mars  must  decide  between  them.  He  had  a  spy  who 
was  taken,  led  through  his  army  and  then  dismissed,  with  di- 
rections to  tell  Pyrrhus  to  come  himself  and  see. 

Laevinus  was  encamped  on  the  south  bank  of  the  river  Si- 
ris,  in  the  plain  between *Heracle a  and  Pandosia.  Pyrrhus 
came  and  occupied  the  opposite  bank.  As  he  viewed  the 
Roman  camp,  he  observed  to  one  of  his  friends  that  the  bar- 
barians (the  Greeks  so  named  all  people  but  themselves) 
showed  nothing  of  the  barbarian  in  their  tactics.  His  object 
was  to  prevent  their  passing  the  river ;  but  the  Roman  caval- 
ry crossed  it  higher  up,  and  falling  on  the  rear  of  the  Epi- 
rotes  who  guarded  the  passage,  enabled  the  infantry  to  get 
over.  Pyrrhus  sent  his  ThessaJian  horse  against  that  of  the 
Romans,  who,  though  of  an  inferior  quality,  stood  their 
ground.  He  then  led  on  his  phalanx  :  Megacles,  who  wore 
the  royal  helm  and  mantle,  was  slain  ;  both  sides  thought 
Pyrrhus  had  fallen,  and  the  Epirotes  had  fled  but  that  the 
king  made  himself  known.  Seven  times  the  phalanx  and  the 
legion  advanced  and  receded  ;  the  consul  thought  to  decide 
the  battle  by  a  charge  of  horse  on  the  rear  ;  but  the  elephants 
were  now  brought  into  action,  and  at  the  sight  of  tliese  un- 
known animals  horse  and  man  were  filled  with  terror  ;  the 
Thessalian  horse  charged  and  scattered  them  ;  they  drew  the 
infantry  with  them  in  their  flight  over  the  river,  and  none 
perhaps  would  have  escaped,  were  it  not  that  a  wounded  ele- 
phant turned  his  rage  against  his  own  side.  The  remnant 
of  the  Roman  army  fled  to  Venusia  :  their  loss  had  been 
7000  slain,  and  about  2000  taken.  On  the  side  of  the  vic- 
tors 4000  had  fallen.  When  Pyrrhus,  on  the  following  day, 
viewed  the  field  of  battle,  he  cried,  "  With  such  soldiers  the 
world  were  mine,  and  were  I  their  general  the  Romans 
would  have  it !  "  To  those  who  congratulated  him  on  his 
success  he  replied,  "One  such  victory  more,  and. I  go  back 
to  Epirus."     He  ordered  the  bodies  of  the  Romans  to  be 


CINEAS    AT    ROME*  loa 

burned  and  buried  like  those  of  his  own  men.  He  proposed 
to  the  prisoners  to  enter  his  service,*  and  on  their  refusal 
freed  them  from  fetters. 

The  whole  south  of  Italy  now  joined  Pyrrhus ;  but  this 
prince,  who  disliked  long  wars,  and  had  had  experience  of 
Roman  valor,  preferred  an  honorable  peace,  which  he  thought 
might  now  be  obtained,  to  a  prolonged  contest.  He  de- 
spatched his  friend  Cineas  to  Rome,  to  propose  a  peace,  on 
condition  of  the  independence  of  the  Italian  Greeks  being 
acknowledged,  and  all  that  had  been  taken  from  the  Samnites, 
Lucanians,  Bruttians,  and  Apulians  being  restored.  Peace 
being  made  on  these  terms,  the  Roman  prisoners,  among 
whom  were  six  hundred  knights,  would  be  released  without 
ransom.  The  eloquence  and  the  winning  manners  of  Cineas, 
though  his  gifts  were  refused,  had  a  great  effect  on  the  minds 
of  many  ;  the  relatives  of  the  prisoners  were  anxious  on  their 
account ;  the  Etruscan  war  was  not  yet  ended.  The  prof- 
fered terms  seemed  likely  to  be  accepted,  when  Ap.  Claudius, 
who,  on  account  of  the  blindness  with  which  he  was  afflicted, 
had  long  abstained  from  public  affairs,  had  himself  carried  in 
a  litter  to  the  senate-house.  His  sons  and  sons-in-law  came 
out  to  receive  him,  and  lead  him  in,  and  his  indignant  elo- 
quence banished  all  thoughts  of  peace  from  the  minds  of  his 
auditors,  and  Cineas  was  ordered  to  quit  Rome.  On  his 
return  to  his  master  he  told  him  that  Rome  was  a  temple, 
the  senate  an  assembly  of  kings.  While  he  was  yet  there, 
two  legions  had  been  raised  to  reinforce  Laevinus,  and 
volunteers  had  crowded  with  the  utmost  eagerness  to  be 
enrolled. 

Laevinus,  who  was  now  in  Campania,  was  there  joined  by 
these  legions,  and  he  baffled  the  attempts  of  Pyrrhus  on  Capua 
and  Neapolis,  The  king,  as  he  could  not  bring  him  to  ac- 
tion, resolved  to  push  on  for  Rome,  and  form  a  junction  with 
the  Etruscans.  Instead  of  taking  the  Appian  or  lower  road, 
on  which  there  were  several  strong  towns,  he  moved  by  the 
Latin  road  over  the  hills.  He  took  FregellaB,  entered  the 
Hernican  country,  where  the  people  declared  for  him,  pushed 
on  to  Praeneste,t  and   advanced   five   miles  beyond   it,  to 

*  The  Grecian  mercenaries  at  this  time  constantly  changed  sides 
afler  a  defeat.  The  same  was  the  case  in  Italy  in  the  middle  ages,  and 
in  Germany  in  the  thirty  years'  war. 

t  He  had  a  view  of  Rome  from  the  citadel  of  this  town.  (FkwtM, 
i.l8.) 


164  HISTORY    OF    ROME. 

within  eighteen  miles  of  Rome  ;  but  here  his  course  ended. 
Peace  had  just  been  made  with  the  Etruscans,  and  the  array 
employed  against  them  was  now  in  Rome.  Laevinus  dis- 
turbed the  communications  in  his  rear :  to  take  Rome  by 
storm  or  blockade  was  hopeless.  Heedless  of  the  prayers  of 
the  PrjEuestines  and  Hernicans,  he  resolved  to  retrace  his 
steps.  Qji  reaching  Campania  he  found  Laevinus  at  the 
head  of  six  legions:  "What!"  cried  he,  "am  I  fighting 
with  the  hydra?"  He  drew  up  his  troops,  who  raised  the 
war-cry,  and  clashed  their  arms.  The  Romans  replied  in 
such  cheerful  tones  that  he  did  not  deem  it  prudent  to  attack 
them,  and  he  dismissed  his  allies  and  went  to  Tarentum  for 
the  winter. 

At  Tarentum  Pyrrhus  was  waited  on  by  three  Roman 
ambassadors,  C.  Fabricius,  Q.  iEmilius  Papus,  and  P.  Cor- 
nelius Dolabella,  all  consulars,  to  treat  of  the  ransom  or 
exchange  of  the  numerous  prisoners  who  were  now  in  his 
hands.*  He  rejected  th6ir  offers ;  but  he  gave  the  prisoners 
permission  to  go  with  them  to  Rome  to  keep  the  Saturnalia, 
on  their  promise  to  return  if  the  senate  did  not  make  peace  ; 
and,  as  all  their  efforts  proved  vain,  they  returned  every  one 
into  captivity. 

In  the  spring  (473)  Pyrrhus  opened  the  campaign  in  Apu- 
lia. He  was  besieging  Venusia  when  he  heard  that  the  con- 
suls P.  Sulpicius  and  P.  Decius  were  advancing  to  its  relief; 
he  therefore  raised  the  siege,  and  prepared  to  give  them 
battle  at  a  place  named  Asculum,  on  the  edge  of  the  moun- 
tains. As  the  ground  here  was  against  Pyrrhus,  the  advan- 
tage was  on  the  side  of  the  Romans  in  the  first  engagement; 
but  he  mancEUvred  so  as  to  draw  them  down  into  the  plain, 
where  by  a  sudden  attack  of  the  elephants  and  light  troops 
on  their  flank,  while  they  were  exhausting  themselves  by 
fruitless  efforts  against  the  solid  phalanx,  he  put  them  to 
flight.  As  their  camp  was  at  hand,  their  loss  was  but  6000 
men ;  that  of  the  king  was  3505.     "  One  such  victory  more, 

*  On  this  occasion,  we  are  told  (Plut.,  Pyrrhus,  20)  that  the  kiAg, 
having  learned  the  povertv  of  Fabricius  from  Cineas,  tried  to  induce 
him  to  accept  a  present  of  gold.  The  Roman  declined  ;  and  next  day, 
as  he  and  Pyrrhus  were  conversing,  a  curtain  behind  them  suddenly 
drew  up,  and  an  elephant,  which  had  been  placed  there  by  the  king  s 
orders,  stretched  his  trunk  out  over  them,  and  gave  a  loud  roar.  Fa- 
bricius, who  had  never  seen  one  of  these  huge  animals,  only  stepped 
aside,  and  said  with  a  smile  to  the  king,  "  Your  gold  did  not  move  me 
yesterday,  nor  your  beast  to-day." 


PYRRHUS    IN    SICILY*  165 

and  I  am  undone,"  cried  Pyrrhus,  who  returned  to  Taren- 
tum  without  making  any  attempt  on  the  Roman  camp. 

The  situation  of  Pyrrhus  was  now  rather  precarious :  he 
had  lost  the  flower  of  his  troops  ;  he  could  not  reckon  on  his 
Italian  allies,  who  had  even  plundered  his  camp  during  the 
last  action ;  the  Gauls  had  invaded  Macedonia  and  menaced 
all  Greece,  and  he  could  not  draw  any  troops  from  Epirus  ; 
while  the  Romans  had  concluded  an  alliance  with  the  Cartha- 
ginians, and  a  Punic  fleet  of  one  hundred  and  thirty  triremes 
was  now  off*  the  coast  of  Italy.  On  the  other  hand,  strong 
inducements  were  held  out  to  him  to  pass  over  into  Sicily, 
and  deliver  it  from  the  yoke  of  the  Carthaginians.  The 
Romans,  on  their  side,  owing  to  the  heavy  burden  of  taxation 
consequent  on  the  war,  were  extremely  desirous  of  peace. 
Just  at  this  time,  (474,)  we  are  told,*  Pyrrhus'  physician  sent 
secretly  to  the  consuls  C.  Fabricius  and  Q,.  iEmilius,  offering 
for  a  reward  to  poison  his  master.  The  consuls,  abhorring 
the  treason,  gave  information  of  it  to  the  king.  Pyrrhus 
immediately  despatched  Cineas  to  Rome  with  his  thanks  to 
the  senate  ;  he  gave  gifts  and  clothes  to  all  his  prisoners,  and 
sent  them  home  with  him.  Cineas  was  also  the  bearer  of 
rich  presents  to  the  principal  persons  of  both  sexes  at  Rome. 
These  presents  were,  however,  all  rejected ;  the  friendship 
of  the  Romans  was  to  be  had  without  gifts,  it  was  replied,  if 
Pyrrhus  quitted  Italy.  The  prisoners  of  his  allies,  however, 
were  released  in  exchange,  and  a  truce  concluded. 

Pyrrhus  was  now  at  liberty  to  accept  the  invitation  of  the 
Siciliotes.  He  left  Italy,  where  he  had  spent  two  years  and 
four  months ;  and,  passing  over  to  Sicily,  remained  there 
three  years,  and  made  himself  master  of  nearly  the  whole 
island.  During  his  absence  the  Roman  arms,  under  Fabri- 
cius and  other  leaders,  were  directed  with  success  against  his 
Italian  allies.  At  length,  finding  fortune  becoming  adverse 
to  him  in  Sicily,  and  being  urged  by  the  prayers  of  the  Ta- 
rentines  and  his  other  allies,  he  returned  to  Italy  (477)  with 
an  army  of  20,000  foot  and  3000  horse,  a  portion  of  which 
he  sent  into  Lucania  against  the  consul  Lentulus,  while,  with 
the  remainder,  he  advanced  to  engage  the  other  consul, 
M'.  Curius  Dentatus,  who  was  encamped  near  Beneventum 
in  Samnium. 

Curius  occupied  a  strong  position  on  a  height,  intending 

*  There  is  great  contradiction  in  the  various  accounts  of  this  trans, 
action.  Niebuhr  says  that  it  was  a  mere  fiction  to  open  communica* 
tions,  and  was  so  understOdd  by  all  parties. 


166  HISTORT   OF    ROME. 

to  await  the  arrival  of  his  colleague.  It  was  the  intentioQ 
of  Pyrrhus  to  attack  him  at  daybreak  with  some  elephants 
and  picked  troops.  A  dream,  it  is  said,  which  he  had  as  he 
slumbered  in  the  beginning  of  the  night,  terrified  him,  and 
he  wished  to  give  up  the  project ;  but  his  officers  urging  on 
him  the  impolicy  of  allowing  the  two  Roman  armies  to  join, 
he  sent  forward  the  troops.  To  reach  the  heights  behind 
the  Roman  camp,  they  had  to  go  a  round  through  dense 
woods,  guided  by  torch  light.  They  lost  their  way,  their 
torches  burned  out,  and  it  was  broad  day  when  they  reached 
their  destination.  Being  wearied  with  their  march,  they 
were  easily  put  to  flight.  The  consul  then  came  down  into 
the  plain  to  engage  the  main  army ;  the  Romans  were  victo- 
rious on  one  wing,  but  the  other  was  driven  back  to  the  camp 
by  the  phalanx  and  the  elephants.  Here  a  shower  of  arrows, 
bearing  burning  wax  and  tar,  was  hurled  on  the  beasts, 
which  growing  furious  carried  confusion  into  the  ranks  of 
the  phalanx.  The  rout  was  now  complete,  and  Pyrrhus' 
camp  was  taken.  The  king  soon  after  (478)  quitted  Italy 
with  but  6000  foot  and  500  horse,  and  two  years  later  he 
lost  his  life  in  an  attempt  on  the  city  of  Argos.* 

In  the  course  of  the  succeeding  nine  years  the  Roman 
dominion  was  established  over  the  south  and  east  of  Italy, 
but  few  of  the  particulars  have  been  transmitted  to  us. 

The  Italian  states  stood  in  different  relations  to  Rome. 
In  general  they  held  all  their  lands  in  full  property,  paying 
no  land-tax ;  but  in  a  number  of  cases  a  portion  of  their 
territory  had  been  converted  into  Roman  public  land,  and 
assigned  to  colonists  or  occupied  in  the  usual  manner.  They 
were  governed  by  their  own  laws  and  magistrates  ;  but  they 
had  to  supply  troops,  in  rated  proportions,  when  Rome  was 
at  war,  and  arm  and  pay,  and  perhaps  feed  them.  They 
were  named  Allies,f  (Socii,)  as  distinct  from  the  Latins,  {No- 
men  Latinum,\)  who  stood  on  a  somewhat  different  footing. 
The  infantry  of  the  Latins  and  Allies  in  a  Roman  army 
usually  equalled  that  of  the  legions  in  number  ;  the  cavalry 

*  History  of  Greece,  p.  439. 

t  It  seems  probable  that  the  term  Allies  applied  only  to  the  Sabellian 
peoples  and  those  of  Southern  Italy,  and  that  it  did  not  include  the 
Tuscans,  Umbrians,  or  Italian  Greeks;  perhaps  not  even  the  Brut- 
tians,  as  being  half- Greeks.  None,  therefore,  but  genuine  Italians 
could  serve  in  the  Roman  armies. 

t  The  proper  expression  was  socii  et  ('or  ac)  nomen  Latinum,  as  in 
Sallust  and  other  accurate  writers ;  the  sdcii  ntminis  LaUiU  of  Livy  is 
quite  incorrect. 


CENSORSHIP  OF  AP.  CLAUDIUS.         167 

was  thrice  as  numerous.     Their  contingents   were  always 
commanded  by  their  own  officers. 


During  the  period  at  the  end  of  which  we  are  now  arrived, 
considerable  alterations  were  made  in  the  political  and  mili- 
tary systems  of  the  Romans.  These  we  will  now  proceed  to 
explain. 

In  the  year  442,  Ap.  Claudius,  afterwards  named  the  Blind, 
(CcBcus,)  from  the  misfortune  which  befel  him,  was  made 
censor  with  C.  Plautius.  He  distinguished  his  censorship 
by  commencing  the  celebrated  Appian  Road,  which  was 
gradually  extended  from  Rome  to  Capua,  and  thence  across 
the  peninsula  to  Brundisium,  a  distance  of  three  hundred 
and  sixty  miles,  paved  the  whole  way  with  square  blocks  of 
stone,  and  justly  named  the  Queen  of  Roads.  He  likewise 
made  the  first  aqueduct,  the  Aqua  Appia,  at  Rome;  the 
water  being  conveyed  under  ground  from  some  springs  near 
the  Prsenestine  road,  about  eight  miles  from  the  city. 

But  the  changes  which  Appius  attempted  to  make  in  the 
constitution  are  of  more  importance  in  a  political  point  of 
view.  When  selecting  the  senate,  in  virtue  of  his  office,  he 
omitted  his  enemies,  and  put  in  their  place  the  sons  of  freed- 
men  ;  but  all  united  against  this  innovation,  and  the  consuls 
of  the  next  year  called  the  original  members  of  the  senate. 
Appius,  being  thus  foiled,  took  another  and  a  more  perni- 
cious course  :  he  distributed  the  freedmen  throughout  all  the 
tribes,  and  thus  in  effect  put  the  elections  entirely  into  their 
hands.  To  understand  this,  we  must  observe  that  the  srari- 
ans,  among  whom  the  Libertini  or  freedmen  were  included, 
were  a  very  numerous  and  even  wealthy  body  ;  for  all  the  arts 
and  trades  at  Rome  were  exercised  by  them,  the  plebeians 
being  restricted  to  agriculture.  They  were  divided  into  a 
number  of  guilds,  of  which  that  of  the  Scribge,  or  notaries, 
was  the  most  important,  as  nearly  all  the  public  and  private 
legal  writing  at  Rome,  of  which  there  was  a  great  quantity, 
was  exercised  by  them.  The  notaries  were  now  directed  by 
Cn.  Flavins,  one  of  the  ablest  men  of  his  time,  who  acted  in 
concert  with  Ap.  Claudius.  When  we  reflect  then  that  the 
plebeians  were  continually  reduced  by  service  in  war,  from 
which  the  serarians  were  exempt,  and  that  they  also  unwill- 


168  HISTORY    OF    ROME. 

ingly  left  their  farms  to  come  to  attend  elections  at  Rome, 
we  may  easily  see  how  the  agrarians  of  a  rural  tribe,  who 
were  numerous  and  always  on  the  spot,  could  determine  its 
vote.  As  a  proof,  Cn.  Flavins  himself  was  in  449  made 
curule  aedile,  and,  to  annoy  the  genuine  Romans  still  more, 
his  colleague  was  Q.  Anicius  of  Praeneste,  therefore  a  mere 
municeps,  and  one  who  had  actually  been  in  arms  against 
Rome  a  few  years  before.*  On  this  occasion  the  senators 
laid  aside  their  gold  rings,  the  knights  their  silver  horse- 
trappings,  in  token  of  mourning,  and  it  was  unanimously 
resolved  to  change  the  law  of  election. 

It  is  by  no  means  unlikely  that  Appius,  who  was  at  all 
times  a  strenuous  opposer  of  the  claims  of  the  plebeian 
nobility,  acted  on  this  occasion  as  the  agent  of  the  small 
knot  of  patrician  oligarchs  who  wished  to  exclude  the  rival 
nobles  from  places  of  honor  and  dignity.  Oligarchs  thus 
situated  usually  seek  to  make  allies  of  the  inferior  people; 
and  Appius  and  his  friends  may  have  regarded  the  debase- 
ment of  the  plebeian  tribes,  by  inixing  freedmen  through 
them,  as  the  surest  means  to  attain  their  ends;  for  neither 
they  nor  their  descendants  could  presume,  it  was  supposed, 
to  aspire  to  the  consulate,  and  their  enmity  to  the  plebeian 
order  might  be  reckoned  on  with  some  confidence,  for  keep- 
ing them  from  conferring  it  on  the  plebeian  nobility. 

Cn.  Flavius  had  gained  his  popularity  by  two  acts  of  real 
benefit  to  the  people.  The  dies  fasti,  or  days  on  which 
courts  sat  and  justice  was .  administered,  were  at  this  time 
divided  in  a  very  perplexing  way  through  the  year,  and  peo- 
ple could  only  learn  them  from  the  mouth  of  the  pontiffs. 
Flavius  made  a  calendar,  in  which  the  nature  of  each  day 
was  marked,  and  hung  it  up  publicly  in  the  Forum,  thus  con- 
ferring an  important  boon  on  the  whole  people.  He  further 
made  and  published  a  collection  of  all  the  legal  forms  in  civil 
actions.  It  is  said  that  it  was  at  the  impulse  of  Appius  that 
he  made  the  Fasti  public.f 

In  449,  Q.  Fabius  and  P.  Decius  were  created  censors,  in 
order  to  obviate  the  evil  caused  by  Appius.  They  separated 
the  whole  of  the  market-faction,  (turba  forensis,)  as  the 
agrarians  were  called,  from  the  rural  tribes,  and  placed  them 
in  the  four  city-tribes ;  and  the  measure  was  considered  of 
such  importance,  that  Fabius  derived  the  name  of  Maximus 
(Most  great)  from  it.     We  will  endeavor  to  show  in  what 

*  Pliny,  H.  N.  zxxlii.  6.  t  Pliny,  ut  supra. 


CHANGE    IN    THE    CONSTITUTION.  169 

its  importance  consisted,  and  that  it  was  only  part  of  a  great 
change  in  the  constitution.* 

In  consequence  of  the  change  in  the  value  of  money,  of 
the  extension  of  the  franchise  to  such  a  number  of  people  by 
the  formation  of  new  tribes,  of  the  necessity  of  increasing 
the  number  of  those  liable  to  serve  in  the  legions,  and  from 
other  causes,  the  Servian  constitution  of  the  Classes  was  no 
longer  adapted  to  the  Roman  people.  It  was  therefore 
abandoned,  and  in  its  place  a  new  one,  founded  on  the  tribes, 
was  substituted. t  The  tribes  were  divided  each  into  two  cen- 
turies, one  of  old  and  one  of  young  men  :  the  Six  Suffrages 
remained ;  all  who  had  a  million  of  asses  and  upwards  of 
property,  were  placed  in  the  twelve  plebeian  equestrian 
centuries;  all  who  had  property  between  that  sum  and  4000 
asses  had  votes  in  the  tribes.  The  centuries,  with  the 
exception  of  the  Suffrages,  were  divided  into  two  Classes, 
the  first  containing  the  rural  tribes  and  plebeian  knights,  the 
second  the  city-tribes;  the  centuries  of  the  former  were 
termed  Primo  VocdtcB,  those  of  the  latter  Postremo  VocdtcB. 
Those  of  the  rural  tribes  decided  by  lot  which  should  vote 
first ;  and  the  successful  one  was  named  the  Prserogative,  as 
being  first  asked  by  the  presiding  magistrate  ;  its  vote  gen- 
erally decided  the  others.  The  order  of  voting  was,  the 
first  class,  the  Suffrages,  the  second  class.f  The  whole 
number  of  centuries  at  this  time,  when  there  were  thirty-one 
tribes,  was  eighty,  i.  e.  six  patrician  and  twelve  plebeian 
equestrian,  fifty-four  rural,  and  eight  city  centuries,§ 

The  new-»modelled  comitia  of  the  tribes  differed  from  the 
original  one  in  four  points ;  viz.  the  separation  of  the  ple- 
beian knights,  and  the  participation  of  the  patricians ;  the 

*  In  what  follows  we  give  a  hypothesis  of  Niebuhr's;  for  the  proofs 
and  development  we  must  refer  to  his  own  work,  vol.  iii.  374 — 409. 
(German.) 

t  That  the  Servian  constitution  was  abandoned  long  before  the  end 
of  the  republic,  is  proved  by  the  following  passages:  Liv.  i.  43;  xxiv. 
7  and  9  ;  xxvi.  22 ;  xxvii.  6.    Cic.  Rullus,  ii.  2.  Plancius,  20. 

X  Cic.  Phil.  ii.  33. 

§  The  four  city-tribes  were  the  Suburane,  Esquiline,  CoUine,  and 
Palatine  ;  the  fifteen  original  rural  ones  were  the  iEmilian,  Camilian, 
Cluentian,  Cornelian,  Fabian,  Galerian,  Horatian,  Lemonian,  Mene- 
nian,  Papirian,  Pupinian,  Romilian,  Sergian,Veturian,  Voltinian.  The 
Claudian  was  added  in  250 ;  the  Crustumine  in  259 ;  the  Stellatine, 
Tromentine,  Sabatine,  and  Arniensian  in  368 ;  the  Pomptine  and 
Publilian  in  397 ;  the  Msecian  and  Scaptian  in  421 ;  the  Ufentine  and 
Falerine  in  435 ;  the  Terentine  and  Aniensian  in  453,  and  the  Valine 
and  Quirine  about  514  ;  thus  making  35  in  all. 

15  V 


170  HISTOBT    OF    ROME. 

division  into  centuries  of  old  and  young  men  ;  the  exclusion 
of  the  Proletarians  ;  the  employment  of  the  auspices.  We 
may  see  that  it  retained  as  much  of  the  Servian  constitution 
as  was  possible  ;  that  it  was  a  nearer  approach  to  democracy 
is  not  to  be  denied,  but  this  was  unavoidable ;  yet  there  was 
not  actually  universal  suffrage,  as  in  the  Greek  democracies ; 
and  as,  except  on  some  very  particular  occasions,  it  could 
be  only  the  people  of  property  in  the  rural  tribes  that  were 
at  Rome  when  the  comitia  were  held,  the  elections  and  the 
passing  of  laws  must  have  lain  almost  entirely  with  them. 
The  wisdom  of  Fabius  is  proved  by  the  length  of  time  that 
the  system  continued  to  work  well.  Its  corruption  pro- 
ceeded from  causes  which  he  could  not  have  foreseen  or 
obviated. 

The  changes  in  the  military  system  during  this  period 
were  also  considerable.     They  were  to  the  following  effect. 

The  unwieldy,  helpless  nature  of  the  phalanx  had  at  some 
time,  perhaps  in  the  Gallic  war,  become  apparent,  and  it  was 
converted  into  a  more  active  form.  At  the  time  of  the  Latin 
war  we  find  the  legion  thus  constituted.*  It  consisted  of 
five  cohorts  or  battalions,  the  Hastats,  Principes,  Triarians, 
Rorarians,  and  Accensi;  the  first  two  were  named  Antesig- 
nani  and  Antepiiani,  because  they  were  stationed  before  the 
standards  (signa)  and  the  Triarians,  who  were  also  named 
Pilani  from  their  weapon,  the  pihim.f  The  Antesignani 
consisted  each  of  fifteen  maniples  or  thirty  centuries;  and  iii 
the  plan,  which  supposed  thirty  tribes,  each  century  con- 
tained thirty  men  with  the  centurion ;  and  the  cohort  there- 
fore 900  men  and  30  officers.  As  every  thing  in  the  Roman 
institutions  was  regular  and  uniform,  we  must  suppose  the 
remaining  cohorts  to  be  of  equal  strength ;  and  this  gives 
a  total  of  4500  common  men  for  the  legion  ;  of  which 
2400  (viz.  600  Hastats,  900  Principes,  and  900  Triarians) 
were  troops  of  the  line;  1200  (viz.  300  Hastats  and  900 
Rorarians)  light  troops ;  |  the  900  Accensi  were  merely  a 
depot-battalion  that  followed  the  legion.  Two  legions  thus 
composed  formed  a  consular  army. 

The  Hastats  derived  their  name  from  the  spears  {hastes) 

*  Livy,  viii.  8. 

t  The  pilum  was  a  weapon  composed  of  a  handle  of  wood  three 
cubits  long,  and  an  iron  head  of  the  same  length,  one  half  of  which 
projected  beyond  the  wood. 

t  Niebuhr  gives  these  numbers  2200  and  1100 ;  but  in  this  case  300 
Hastats  remain  unaccounted  for. 


THE   ROMAN   LEGtOI«.  |71 

which  they  bore ;  the  Principes  were  so  called  as  being  of 
the  first  class;*  the  Triarians  as  being  formed  out  of  the 
first  three  classes,t  for  the  Romans  in  the  period  of  this 
legion,  still  served  according  to  the  classes ;  the  Rorarians; 
or  Sprinklers,  from  their  task  of  showering  {rordre)  their 
missiles  in  the  beginning  of  the  action.J  The  40  centuries 
of  the  first  class  gave  30  for  the  Principes,  10  for  the  Tri- 
arians ;  the  second  and  third  class  gave  each  10  for  the 
Triarians,  their  remaining  20  being  the  Hastats  of  the  line. 
Of  the  forty  centuries  of  the  last  two  classes,  10  were  light 
Hastats,  and  30  Rorarians. 

The  maniples  of  the  three  cohorts  of  troops  of  the  line 
were  drawn  up  in  quincunx,  thus  : 

nnnnnjinjiii 

nn-annnnnn 
nnnnnnnnn 

with  lanes  or  intervals  between  them.  Each  maniple  as 
consisting  of  two  centuries,  had  two  centurions  to  command 
it,  and  a  standard-bearer.  The  maniples  of  the  Hastats 
contained  40  shielded  men,  that  is,  men  of  the  second  and 
third  class,§  20  armed  only  with  spear  and  dart,  that  is, 
of  the  fourth  class ;  the  Principes  bore  spears  and  long 
cut-and-thrust  swords;  the  Triarians  pila;  the  Rorarians 
slings,  as  being  of  the  fifth  class.  When  in  battle  array, 
the  light  troops  were  in  front,  and  began  the  action ;  they 
then  retired  through  the  lanes  :  the  Hastats  succeeded,  and 
when  they  were  wearied,  they  fell  back  through  the  Prin- 
cipes, who  then  came  into  action ;  and  if  the  enemy  still 
resisted,  the  Triarians,  who  had  hitherto  been  sitting  under 
their  standards,  rose,  the  Principes  and  Hastats  retired 
through  the  intervals  of  their  maniples,  which  then  closed  ; 
and  the  Triarians,  having  hurled  their  pila  on  the  wearied 
foe,  fell  on  them  sword  in  hand. 

About  the  middle  of  the  fifth  century  the  legion  under- 
went a  further  modification,  and  became  such  as  it  was 
when  opposed  to  Hannibal,  and  as  it  is  described  by  Polyb- 

*  "  Scutati  omnes,  insignibus  mazime  armis."  (Livy.)  This  showi 
that  they  were  men  of  property. 

t  Not  from  their  position,  for  then  their  name  would  have  been  Ter- 
tiarians. 

t  *'  Ideo  quod  ante  rorat  quam  pluit."    Varro  L.  vi.  p^  92.     Bip.  e4. 

§  See  the  system,  p.  51. 


172  HISTORY    OF    ROME. 

ius.*  Fabius  Maximus  and  Decius  were  probably  the  au- 
thors of  this  change  also. 

As  the  class  system  was  no  longer  suited  to  the  levies, 
they  were  now  made  from  the  tribes,  from  each  of  which 
four  centuries,  or  120  men,  were  selected  for  each  legion  ; 
so  that  when  the  tribes  were  thirty-five,  the  legion  contained 
4200  common  men.  These  were  all  armed  by  the  state, 
and  classified  according  to  their  age ;  the  youngest  being 
the  light  troops,  or  Velites,  who  began  the  battle ;  the  next 
in  age  the  Hastats,  and  so  on,  the  Triarians  being  the 
oldest  men.  The  Hastats  and  Principes  carried  pila  and 
swords,  the  Triarians  were  armed  with  spears.  Of  the  4200 
men  of  the  legion,  1200,  or  twenty  maniples,  were  Has- 
tats ;  the  same  number  Principes ;  one  half  of  it,  or  600, 
Triari'ans  ;  the  remaining  1200  Velites.  The  cavalry  of 
each  legion  consisted  of  300  men  dividl^d  into  ten  troops, 
{turmcB,)  each  of  30  men,  and  commanded  by  three  decurions. 
Its  station  in  action  was  on  the  wings.  Each  legion  had  six 
tribunes,  each  maniple  two  centurions  and  two  ensigns : 
legates  [legdii)  or  lieutenants,  commanded  the  legions  under 
the*  general.  The  array  of  battle  still  continued  to  be  in 
quincunx. 

As  the  century  continued  to  be  drawn  up  three  in  front 
and  ten  deep,  a  question  arises  how  it  was  to  act ;  and  it 
can  only  have  been  in  the  following  manner.  The  century 
also  was  drawn  up  in  quincunx^ 


thus  forming  ten  linos,  each  man  being  allotted  a  space  of 
three  feet  every  way.  When  those  in  the  first  line  had 
thrown  their  pt7a,  they  fell  back,  and  the  second  line  step- 
ped forward  and  took  their  place,  and  on  so  till  the  whole 
ten  lines  had  engaged  ;  and  if  there  was  a  supply  of  pila^ 
the  same  course  may  have  been  gone  through  over  again; 
the  same  was  the  case  when  they  came  to  employ  their 
swords. 

What  the  literature  of  Rome  was  at  this  period  we  have 
not  the  means  of  ascertaining.  Brief,  dry  chronicles  of  pub- 
lic events  were  kept ;  the  funeral  orations  made  over  men 

•  PolyWui,  vi.  lEMate.  *Vui.  13-15. 


ROMAN   LITERATURE.  173 

of  rank  were  preserved  by  their  families;  a  moral  poem  of 
App.  Claudius  the  Blind,  and  his  speech  against  peace  with 
Pyrrhus,  were  extant  in  Cicero's  days.  Cato  and  Varro  * 
say  that  it  was  the  custom  of  the  Romans  to  sing  at  their  ban- 
quets old  songs  containing  the  praises  of  the  illustrious  men 
of  former  times.  It  is  the  opinion  of  Niebuhrt  that  the  poems 
from  which  he  supposes  the  history  of  the  kings  and  of  the 
early  days  of  the  republic  to  have  been  framed,  were  the 
production  of  plebeian  poets,  and  composed  after  the  time 
of  the  capture  of  the  city  by  the  Gauls;  the  middle  of  the 
fifth  century,  which  was  the  golden  age  of  Roman  art,  he 
thinks"  may  also  have  been  that  of  Roman  poetry.  The 
measure  in  which  the  Romans  composed  their  poems,  and 
which  is  named  Saturnian  Verse,  continued  to  be  used  to 
the  middle  of  the  seventh  century  of  the  city ;  but  we  have 
very  few  specimens  of  it  remaining,  and  its  nature  is  but 
imperfectly  understood. 

*  The  former  in  Cicero,  Tusc.  Qusest.  iv.  2.  Brutus,  19 ;  the  latter  in 
Nonius,  s.  V.  Assa  voce.  From  the  passage  of  the  Brutus  "  qiut  mvltis 
8(Bculis  ante  sttam  (Catonis)  <Etatem,"  it  would  seem  to  follow  that  the 
custom  had  gone  out  of  use  long  before  Cato's  time  ;  yet  Dionysius 
{i.  79)  plainly  speaks  of  Ballads  of  Romulus  and  Remus  as  being  still 
sung  in  his  time ;  and  Horace  (Carm.  iv,  15,  25 — 'i2)  seems  to  speak  of 
the  practice  of  singing  the  praises  of  the  renowned  of  ancient  days  as 
still  continuing. 

t  History  of  Rome,  i.  p.  257. 

15* 


THE 


HISTORY  OF  ROME 


PART  III.* 


THE  REPUBLIC  — CONQUEST  OF  CAR- 
THAGE  AND  MACEDONIA. 


CHAPTER  I. 

CARTHAGE.  — -  FIRST  PUNIC  WAR. SIEGE  OP  AGRIGENTUM. 

ROMAN  FLEET. NAVAL  VICTORY  OP    DUILIUS. INVASION 

OP  AFRICA. DEFEAT  AND  CAPTURE  OF  REGULUS. LOSSES 

OP  THE  ROMANS  AT  SEA. BATTLE  AT  PANORMUS. DEATH 

OF    REGULUS. DEFEAT   OF    CLAUDIUS. VICTORY  AT   THE 

iEGATIAN   ISLES. PEACE  WITH   CARTHAGE. EFFECTS  OF 

THE  WAR. 

The  present  portion  of  our  history  will  be  chiefly  oc- 
cupied by  the  wars  between  Rome  and  Carthage  ;  we  will 
therefore  commence  it  by  a  brief  sketch  of  the  political  con- 
stitution and  history  of  the  latter  state. 

Carthage  was  a  colony  of  the  Phcenicians  f  founded  on 
the  north  coast  of  Africa,  about  a  century  before  the  build- 
ing of  Rome.  The  colony  was  led,  it  is  said,  by  Elissa,  or 
Dido,  the  sister  of  the  king  of  Tyre :  a  spot  of  land  under 
payment  of  tribute,  was  obtained  from  the  original  inhabit- 

*  The  authorities  for  this  Part  are  so  variotis  that  we  must  mention 
them  at  each  chapter.  Livy  (partly  in  epitome)  and  the  epitomators 
are  the  only  consecutive  ones.  The  first  Punic  war  is  related  in  detail 
by  Polybius,  i.  1—64. 

t  The  Greeks  called  the  Tynans  and  Sidonians<J^o/M«K,  on  account 
of  their  red  or  purple  gtrments ;  hence  the  Latin  Pomi  and  punieus. 


CARTHAGE.  176 

ants  of  the  country,  and  a  town  built,*  which  rapidly  in- 
creased in  size  and  wealth.  The  people  first  freed  them- 
selves from  the  tribute,  .then  reduced  the  adjoining  tribes, 
and  gradually  extended  their  dominion  over  the  coast  of 
Africa  from  the  confines  of  Cyrene  to  the  Atlantic.  The 
Balearic  isles  and  Sardinia  also  owned  the  dominion  of  Car- 
thage, and  she  early  had  settlements  on  the  north  coast  of 
Sicily. 

The  constitution  of  Carthage  obtained  the  praise  of  Aris- 
totle. It  was,  like  those  of  the  most  flourishing  commercial 
states  of  antiquity,  a  mixture  of  aristocracy  and  democracy, 
with  a  preponderance  of  the  former,  which  was  composed 
of  the  families  of  greatest  wealth  and  influence,  from  whom 
the  persons  were  chosen  who  were  to  fill  the  chief  offices 
in  the  state,  and  who  all  served  without  salary.  The  senate 
was  formed  out  of  the  principal  families,  and  its  members 
had  their  seats  for  life.  It  was  presided  over  by  the  Suffetes,f 
magistrates  who  are  compared  to  the  Roman  consuls  and 
the  Spartan  kings.  If  the  sufTetes  and  senate  disagreed,  the 
matter  was  brought  before  the  people,  whose  decision  was 
conclusive,  on  which  occasion  any  one  who  pleased  might 
speak  and  give  his  opinion.  The  suffetes  frequently  went 
out  in  the  command  of  the  armies,  but  the  office  of  general 
was  distinct  from  theirs.  There  was  a  magistracy  of  one 
hundred  judges,  to  whom  the  generals  had  to  give  an  ac- 
count of  their  conduct  in  war;  and  nowhere  does  the  Punic 
character  appear  in  a  more  odious  light  than  in  the  cruel 
punishments  inflicted  on  those  whose  only  fault  had  been 
their  ill  fortune;  nothing  was  more  common  than  to  crucify 
a  defeated  general.  These  Hundred,  who  resembled  the 
Spartan  Ephors,  became  like  them  in  course  of  time  the 
tyrants  of  the  state,  and  helped  to  cause  its  ruin. 

The  troops  of  Carthage  were  chiefly  mercenaries  hired 
in  Africa,  Spain,  Gaul,  and  Italy.  The  Carthaginians 
were  remarkably  precious  of  the  blood  of  their  own  citizens, 

*  The  fort  or  citadel  of  the  town  was  naturally  named  Betzura,  (fort,) 
of  which  the  Greeks  made  Byrsa,  (Svgoa,)  and  as  this  signified  an 
ox-hide,  they  invented  the  tale  of  Dido's  deceiving  the  Africans  by 
asking  for  as  much  land  as  an  ox-hide  would  cover,  and  when  they 
gave  it,  cutting  the  hide  into  thongs.  This  story  has  gone  the  round 
of  the  world.  Hassan  Sabah,  the  chief  of  the  Assassins,  thus  got  the 
fort  of  Alamut  in  Persia,  the  English  (the  Persians  say)  Calcutta,  Hen- 
gist  and  Horsa  their  settlement  in  the  Isle  of  Thanet,  and  one  of  the 
colonies  in  New  England  its  land  from  the  Indians. 

t  The  Hebrew  S/iofetim,  or  Judges. 


176  HISTORY   OF   ROME. 

while  they  lavished  that  of  their  mercenaries  with  reckless 
prodigality. 

The  first  attempt  made  by  the  Carthaginians  to  extend 
their  dominion  in  Sicily  was  at  the  time  of  Xerxes'  invasion 
of  Greece,  when  they  sustained  a  most  decisive  defeat  at 
Himera  from  Gelo  of  Syracuse.  They  refrained  from  any 
further  efforts  till  the  people  of  Segesta,  (Egesta),  who  had 
called  the  Athenians  into  Sicily,  applied,  on  their  defeat,  to 
Carthage  for  aid  against  Selinus.  The  aid  was  granted; 
and  this  was  the  occasion  of  a  succession  of  wars  for  more 
than  a  century  between  the  Carthaginians  and  the  Sicilian 
Greeks,  in  which  the  former  acquired  the  dominion  over 
the  greater  part  of  the  island.  We  are  now  to  see  them  in 
conflict  with  the  mistress  of  Italy. 

The  war  between  these  two  powerful  rivals  commenced 
in  a  manner  little  creditable  to  Rome ;  the  following  was 
the  occasion.  After  the  death  of  Agathocles  of  Syracuse, 
the  Campanian  mercenaries  who  had  been  in  his  pay  were 
dismissed.  They  left  Syracuse  as  if  they  were  returning 
home,  but  instead  of  doing  so  they  treacherously  seized  the 
town  of  Messana;  they  partly  killed,  partly  expelled  the 
men,  and  divided  the  women,  children,  and  property  among 
themselves.  The  name  which  they  assumed  was  Mamer- 
tines;*  they  conquered  several  places  in  the  island,  their 
numbers  rapidly  increased,  and  when  their  countrymen  had 
imitated  their  treachery  in  the  opposite  town  of  Rhegium,t 
a  strict  alliance  was  formed  between  the  two  freebooting 
communities.  But  when  the  Romans  had  destroyed  their 
Italian  allies,  and  they  had  themselves  sustained  a  complete 
defeat  from  Hiero  of  Syracuse,  they  saw  the  necessity  of 
foreign  aid  if  they  would  escape  destruction.  A  part  of  them 
applied  to  Anno,  the  Punic  admiral,  and  put  the  citadel 
into  his  hands;  another  party  sent  off  to  Rome,  offering 
possession  of  the  town,  and  imploring  aid  on  the  score  of 
consanguinity.  (488.) 

The  Roman  Senate  was  greatly  perplexed  how  to  act. 

*  From  Mamers,  or  Mars,  the  god  of  war. 

t  In  the  first  year  of  the  war  with  Pyrrhus,  the  eighth  legion,  consist- 
ing of  Campanians,  had  been  placed  in  garrison  at  Rhegium.  Under 
the  pretext  of  a  conspiracy  among  the  inhabitants,  they  massacred  the 
men,  and  reduced  the  women  and  children  to  slavery,  and  casting  off 
their  allegiance  acted  as  an  independent  state.  In  482,  however,  the 
consul  C.  Genucius  stormed  the  town,  and  he  led  the  300  who  remain- 
ed alive  of  the  legion  to  Rome,  where  they  were  scourged  and  be- 
headed, at  the  rate  of  fifty  a  day. 


FIRST    PimiC    WAR.  177 

It  was  of  the  utmost  importance  to  prevent  the  Carthagin- 
ians from  becoming  masters  of  Messana;  but,  on  the  other 
hand,  Rome's  policy  had  hitherto  been  in  the  main  upright 
and  honorable,  and  with  what  face  could  they  who  had  just 
punished  so  severely  their  own  legion  for  an  act  of  treachery, 
come  forward  as  the  protectors  of  those  who  had  set  them 
the  example  ?  They  long  pondered,  and  could  come  to  no 
conclusion;  the  consuls  then  brought  the  matter  before  the 
people,  who,  beguiled  by  the  prospect  of  booty  held  out,  and 
the  apparent  ease  of  the  enterprise,  and  heedless  of  national 
honor,  voted  the  required  aid.* 

The  charge  of  relieving  Messana  was  committed  to  the 
consul  App.  Claudius  ;  and  one  of  his  legates  proceeding 
with  some  troops  and  ships  to  Rhegium,  after  one  ineffec- 
tual attempt  succeeded  in  crossing  the  strait  and  getting 
into  the  town.  Hanno  was  invited  to  a  conference,  at 
which  he  was  treacherously  seized,  and  only  released  on 
condition  of  his  giving  up  the  citadel,  an  act  of  weakness  for 
which  he  was  crucified  on  his  return  to  Carthage.  But 
another  Hanno  now  came  with  a  large  fleet,  and  landed  an 
army,  which,  in  conjunction  with  the  troops  of  Hiero,  king 
of  Syracuse,  (with  whom  an  alliance  was  made,)  besieged 
the  city  on  the  land  side,  while  the  fleet  lay  at  Pelorus. 

The  consul  arrived  shortly  after,  and  taking  advantage 
of  the  night  landed  his  legions  close  to  the  camp  of  the 
Syracusans.  He  drew  them  up  unobserved,  and  in  the 
morning  totally  defeated  the  troops  of  the  king,  who  fled  to 
his  capital ;  whither,  after  having  defeated  the  Punic  army 
also,  Appius  followed  him,  and  sitting  down  before  it  laid 
waste  the  lands. 

The  two  consuls  of  the  following  year  (4S9)  landed  in 
Sicily,  where  sixty-seven  towns,  subject  to  Hiero  or  the 
Carthaginians,  placed  themselves  under  the  dominion  of 
Rome.  They  approached  Syracuse,  and  Hiero,  in  com- 
pliance with  the  wishes  of  his  people,  made  proposals  of 
peace,  which  was  granted  on  his  paying  200  talents,  re- 
leasing all  the  Roman  prisoners,  and  becoming  the  ally  of 
Rome.  The  Carthaginians  made  no  efforts  to  impede  the 
progress  of  the  Roman  arms  in   Sicily  ;  but  they  were  ac- 

*  "  This  vote  is  an  eternal  disgrace  to  Rome,  and  a  sign  that  even 
then  the  constitution  was  beginning  to  incline  too  much  to  the  demo- 
cratic side  ;  although  in  the  interior  of  the  state  no  disadvantage  to  the 
republic  thence  arose  for  a  long  time  to  come."  Niebuhr,  iii.  660 
(German.) 

W 


178  HISTORY   OF    ROME. 

tively  engaged  in  making  preparations  for  a  vigorous  cam- 
paign. They  hired  troops  in  Liguria,  Gaul,  and  Spain, 
which,  joined  with  their  African  troops  and  the  light  Nu- 
midian  cavalry,  they  sent  over  to  Sicily  (490)  under  Han- 
nibal the  son  of  Gisco,  while  another  army  was  collected  in 
Sardinia  for  the  invasion  of  Italy. 

Hannibal  made  Agrigentum  his  head-quarters.  Leaving 
the  defence  of  Italy  to  the  praetor^  the  two  consuls,  L.  Pos- 
tumius  and  Q,.  Mamilius,  passed  over  to  Sicily,  and  came 
and  encamped  within  a  mile  of  Agrigentum.  Having  re- 
pelled an  attack  of  the  enemy,  they  formed  two  separate 
camps,  united  by  a  double  ditch  and  a  line  of  posts ;  their 
magazines  were  in  the  town  of  Erbessus,  which  lay  at  no 
great  distance  in  their  rear.  They  remained  thus  for  five 
months,  when,  at  the  urgent  desire  of  Hannibal,  whose 
troops  were  beginning  to  suffer  from  hunger,  Hanno  was 
sent  to  Sicily  with  a  force  of  50,000  foot,  6000  horse,  and 
sixty  elephants.  He  advanced  to  Heraclea,  and  took  the 
town  of  Erbessus :  the  Romans  were  now  reduced  to  great 
straits  for  provisions;  an  epidemic  also  broke  out  among 
them,  and  the  consuls  were  thinking  of  giving  over  the  siege  ; 
but  Hiero,  whose  all  was  at  stake,  made  every  effort  to  sup- 
ply them,  and  they  resolved  to  persevere.  Hanno  now  en- 
camped within  little  more  than  a  mile  of  them,  and  the 
two  armies  remained  for  two  months  opposite  each  other. 
At  length,  urged  by  repeated  signals  and  messages  from 
Hannibal,  describing  the  distress  in  the  town,  Hanno  re- 
solved to  hazard  an  engagement ;  the  Romans,  who  were 
suffering  nearly  as  much,  eagerly  accepted  it,  and  after  a: 
Jiard-fought  battle  victory  remained  with  them.  Hanno 
fled  to  Heraclea,  leaving  his  camp  in  the  hands  of  the  victors, 
thirty  of  his  elephants  were  killed,  three  wounded,  and 
eleven  taken.  During  the  battle  Hannibal  made  a  fruitless 
attack  on  the  Roman  lines  ;  but  he  soon  after  took  advan- 
tage of  the  darkness  of  the  winter  nights  to  break  through 
them,  and  get  off  with  what  remained  of  his  army.  The 
Romans  then  stormed  the  town,  and  sold  such  of  the  in- 
habitants as  survived  into  slavery. 

Several  of  the  towns  of  the  interior  now  came  over  to  the 
Romans,  but  those  on  the  coast  stood  too  much  in  awe  of 
the  Punic  fleet  to  follow  their  example :  the  coast  of  Italy 
also  suffered  from  its  descents,  and  the  senate  saw  that  they 
must  meet  the  Carthaginians  on  their  own  element  if  they 
would  end    the   contest  with   advantage.      But  the  Punic 


NAVAL    VICTORY    OF    DUILIUS.  179 

ships  of  war  were  quinqueremes,  and  as  the  Romans  and 
their  Greek  subjects  had  never  had  larger  ships  than  tri- 
remes, their  carpenters  could  not  build  the  former  kind 
without  a  model.  At  length  (492)  a  Carthaginian  ship  of 
war,  having  gone  ashore  on  the  coast  of  Bruttium,  fell  into 
their  hands,  and  with  this  for  a  model,  in  the  space  of  sixty 
days  from  the  time  the  timber  was  cut,  they  built  a  fleet  of 
one  hundred  and  thirty  ships.  Meantime  stages  had  been 
erected,  on  which  the  destined  rowers  were  taught  their  art. 
When  the  fleet  was  ready,  the  consul  Cn.  Cornelius  Scipio 
sailed  over  to  Messana  with  seventeen  ships,  and  the  rest 
followed  along  the  coast  as  fast  as  they  could  get  to  sea. 
While  he  remained  at  Messana  envoys  came,  inviting  him  to 
take  possession  of  the  Liparaean  isles,  and  he  inconsiderately 
sailed  over  to  them :  the  Punic  admiral  Hannibal,  who  was 
at  Panormus,  hearing  he  was  there,  sent  twenty  ships  after 
him,  which  closed  him  up  in  the  port  during  the  night. 
The  Romans  in  terror  left  their  ships  and  fled  to  the  land, 
and  the  consul  was  obliged  to  surrender.  Hannibal  now 
conceived  such  a  contempt  for  the  Romans  as  sailors  that 
he  thought  he  might  easily  destroy  their  whole  navy.  He 
therefore  sailed  along  the  coast  of  Italy  with  fifty  ships  to 
reconnoitre  ;  but  happening,  as  he  doubled  a  cape,  to  fall  in 
with  their  fleet  in  order  of  battle,  he  lost  the  greater  part 
of  his  ships,  and  escaped  with  difliculty  with  the  remainder. 

The  Romans  were  well  aware  of  their  own  inferiority  as 
seamen,  and  they  knew  that  their  only  chance  of  success 
was  by  bringing  a  sea  to  resemble  a  land  fight.  For  this 
purpose  they  devised  the  following  plan.  In  the  fore  part 
of  each  ship  they  set  up  a  mast,  twenty-four  feet  high  and 
nine  inches  in  diameter,  with  a  pulley-wheel  at  the  top  of 
it ;  to  this  mast  was  fastened  a  ladder  thirty-six  feet  long  and 
four  broad,  covered  with  boards  nailed  across  it,  and  having 
on  each  side  a  bulwark  as  high  as  a  man's  knee  ;  at  the  end 
of  it  was  a  strong  piece  of  iron  with  a  sharp  spike  and  a 
ring  on  it,  through  which  a  rope  ran  to  the  mast,  and  over 
the  wheel,  by  which  it  could  be  raised  or  lowered.  This 
Corvus  or  raven,  as  the  machine  was  called,  was  to  be  let 
fall  on  the  enemy's  ship,  which  the  spike  would  then  hold 
fast,  and  the  soldiers  holding  their  shields  over  the  bulwarks, 
to  protect  them,  could  board  along  it. 

The  other  consul,  C.  Duilius,  took  the  command  of  the 
fleet,  and  hearing  that  the  Carthaginians  were  plundering 
the  lands  of  My  Ice,  he  eailed  to  engage  them.     As  sooa  as 


180  HISTORY    OF    ROME. 

they  saw  him,  they  came  out  with  one  hundred  and  thirty 
ships,  as  to  a  certain  victory,  not  even  condescending  to 
form  in  line  of  battle.  At  the  sight  of  the  ravens  they 
paused  a  little,  but  they  soon  came  on  and  attacked  the 
foremost  ships.  The  ravens  w6re  then  let  fall ;  the  Roman 
soldiers  boarded  along  them  :  the  Africans  could  ill  with- 
stand them,  and  they  took  thirty  ships,  among  which  was 
that  of  Hannibal,  the  admiral,  a  septireme  which  had  be- 
longed to  king  Pyrrhus.  The  rest  of  the  Punic  fleet  ma- 
noeuvred, hoping  to  be  able  to  attack  to  advantage;  but  thfey 
either  could  not  get  near  the  Roman  ships,  or  if  they  did, 
were  caught  by  the  ravens.  They  at  last  fled,  with  the  loss 
of  fourteen  ships  sunk,  three  thousand  men  slain,  and  seven 
thousand  captured.  The  joy  of  the  Romans  at  this  their 
first  nav^l  victory  was  evinced  by  the  permanent  honor 
assigned  to  Duilius;  he  was  permitted  for  the  rest  of  his 
life  to  have  a  torch  carried  before  him  and  be  preceded  by  a 
flute-player  when  returning  home  from  supper. 

After  this  victory  the  Romans  divided  their  forces,  and  the 
consul  L.  Scipio  sailed  (493)  with  a  fleet  to  make  an  attack 
on  Sardinia,  where  he  destroyed  a  Punic  fleet  and  made  a 
great  number  of  captives.  Meantime  the  Carthaginians  were 
recovering  their  power  in  Sicily;  but  the  consul  of  the  next 
year,  (494,)  A.  Atilius  Calatinus,  restored  the  Roman  pre- 
ponderance there.  The  towns  of  Mytistratum,  Enna,  Ca- 
marina,  and  others,  which  had  gone  over  to  the  Carthagin- 
ians, were  taken,  and  their  inhabitants  massacred. 

The  following  year  (495)  little  was  done  on  land ;  the 
Catthaginians  had,  however,  reestablished  their  sway  over 
one  half  of  the  island.  A  naval  victory  gained  by  the  con- 
sul C.  Atilius  Regulus  off*  the  port  of  Tyndaris  inspirited 
the  Romans  to  make  a  bold  attempt  to  terminate  the  war 
by  an  invasion  of  Africa.  They  therefore  (496)  collected 
330  ships,  each  carrying  300  seamen,  which  sailing  round 
Pelorus  and  Pachynus,  took  40,000  soldiers  on  board  on  the 
coast  of  Sicily.  The  Carthaginians  had  assembled  at  Lily- 
bfBum  a  fleet  of  350  ships,  carrying  150,000  men  to  oppose 
them.  It  was  the  greatest  military  effort  that  the  ancient 
world  ever  saw.* 

The  Roman  fleet  was  divided  into  four  squadrons;  the 

*  The  plan  of  invading  Africa  during  a  war  with  the  Carthaginians 
had  been  successfully  put  in  practice  by  Agathocles  about  fifty  years 
before  this  time.  (Ol.  117,  3.)  See  Diodor.  xx.  3,  etseq.  It  was  this 
tkat  doubtless  suggested  the  idea  to  the  Romans. 


INVASION    OF    AFRICA. 


181 


first  two  were  commanded  by  the  consuls  M.  Atilius  Reg- 
ulus  and  L.  Manlius  in  person.  The  two  admiral-ships 
sailed  side  by  side ;  each  was  followed  by  his  squadron,  in 
a  single  line,  each  ship  keeping  further  out  to  sea  than  the 
one  before  it,  so  that  the  two  lines  formed  an  acute  angle ; 
and  the  triangle  was  completed  by  the  third  squadron  sail- 
ing abreast,  and  having  the  horse-transports  in  tow;  the 
fourth  squadron  closed  the  figure,  being  in  a  single  line, 
and  extending  on  each  side  beyond  the  base.  The  Punic 
admirals,  Hanno  and  Hamilcar,  likewise  divided  their  fleet 
into  four  squadrons,  which  sailed  parallel,  Hanno  com- 
manding the  right,  Hamilcar  the  left  wing.  The  two 
central  squadrons,  by  a  feigned  flight,  drew  the  first  two 
Roman  ones  after  them,  and  thus  broke  the  triangle ;  the 
Punic  left  wing  then  attacked  the  third  squadron,  while  the 
right  wing  sailed  round  and  fell  on  the  fourth.  As  the 
Punic  ships  which  had  fled  now  turned  round  and  fought, 
there  was  a  threefold  engagement.  At  length  the  first  two 
Roman  squadrons,  having  beaten  those  to  which  they  were 
opposed,  came  to  the  aid  of  the  third  and  fourth,  and  the 
Carthaginians  were  forced  to  retire,  Vith  the  loss  of  thirty 
ships  sunk  and  sixty-four  taken ;  that  of  the  Romans  was 
twenty-four  ships 

The  consuls  returned  to  Sicily  to  repair  the  ships  they 
had  taken,  and  to  complete  the  crews  of  the  whole  fleet. 
They  then  made  sail  for  Africa  ;  and  as  the  Punic  fleet  was 
too  weak  to  oppose  them,  tlfty  landed  safely  on  the  east 
side  of  the  Hermaic  cape,  (Cape- Bon,)  whence  advancing 
southwards  they  took  the  town  of  Clupea,  which  was  de- 
serted at  their  approach,  and  made  it  their  place  of  arms. 
The  country  thence  to  Carthage  was  like  a  garden,  full 
of  cattle,  corn,  vines,  and  every  natural  production,  and 
studded  all  over  with  the  elegant  country-seats  of  the  citi- 
zens of  Carthage.  The  whole  of  this  lovely  region  was 
speedily  pillaged  and  destroyed,  and  thousands  of  captives 
were  dragged  to  Clupea,  the  Carthaginians  not  venturing 
out  to  the  defence  of  their  property. 

It  was  the  usage  of  the  Romans  for  at  least  one  consular 
army  to  return  to  Rome  for  the  winter  and  be  discharged, 
and  they  would  not  depart  from  it  on  the  present  occasion. 
To  the  messenger  therefore  whom  the  consuls  sent  home  for 
instructions,  it  was  replied,  that  Manlius  should  return  with 
his  army  and  the  greater  part  of  the  fleet,  while  Regulus 
should  remain  in  Africa.  It  is  said  that  Riegulus  earaesily 
16 


183  HISTORY   OF   BO&£B. 

applied  for  leave  to  return,  9s  his  little  plebeian  farm  was 
going  to  ruin  for  want  of  his  presence ;  but  that  the  govern- 
ment undertook  to  bear  the  expense  of  its  cultivation,  and  to 
support  his  family  while  he  was  away  in  the  service  of  the 
state.  He  therefore  remained,  with  15,000  foot,  500  horse, 
and  40  ships. 

The  Carthaginians  having  recalled  Hamilcar  from  Sicily, 
he  brought  with  him  5000  foot  and  500  horse ;  and  being 
joined  in  command  with  Hasdrubal  and  Bostar,  he  advanced 
to  oppose  Regulus,  who  was  now  (497)  besieging  a  town 
named  Adis,  close  by  the  lake  of  Tunis.*  Instead  of  keep- 
ing to  the  plain,  where  their  elephants  and  cavalry  could  act 
to  advantage,  the  Punic  generals  took  their  post  on  the  hillsj 
and  were  in  consequence  defeated,  with  the  loss  of  17,000 
men  killed,  and  5000  men  and  18  elephants  taken.  Regulus 
now  conquered  Tunis  ;  seventy-four  other  towns  submitted 
to  him;  he  ravaged  the  country  at  his  will;  the  Numidians 
revolted ;  the  country  people  all  fled  into  Carthage,  where 
famine  began  to  be  felt. 

Regulus,  fearing  that  his  successor  would  come  out  and 
have  the  glory  of  taking  Carthage,  sent  to  propose  a  peace. 
Some  of  the  principal  men  came- to  his  camp  to  treat,  but  he 
offered  only  the  most  humiliating  terms.  He  required  that 
Carthage  should  acknowledge  the  supremacy  of  Rome,  pay 
a  yearly  tribute,  retain  but  one  ship  of  war,  give  up  all  claim 
on  Sicily  and  Sardinia,  release  the  Roman  prisoners,  and 
redeem  her  own.  The  Punift  envoys  retired  without  deign- 
ing a  reply. 

But  the  haughtiness  of  the  Roman  proconsul  was  to  meet 
its  due  chastisement.  The  Carthaginians  had  sent  to  Greece 
to  hire  troops,  which  now  arrived ;  and  among  them  was  a 
Spartan  named  Xanthippus,  an  officer  of  some  distinction. 
When  Xanthippus  viewed  the  condition  of  the  Punic  army 
and  saw  its  force,  he  told  his  friends,  that  it  was  not  the 
Romans  but  their  own  generals  that  had  been  the  cause  of 
the  preceding  defeats.      The  government  on  learning  his 

*  On  the  banks  of  the  Bagrada,  said  the  legend,  (Plin.  H.  N.  viii.  14. 
Zonaras  viii.  13.  Silius  Pun.  vi.  140,)  abode  a  serpent  of  the  enormous 
length  of  120  feet ;  and  when  the  soldiers  came  hither  for  water,  he 
killed  or  drove  them  off.  It  was  found  necessary  to  employ  the  bal- 
lists  and  other  artillery  against  him,  as  against  a  town,  and  at  length 
he  was  slain.  His  skin  and  jaw-bones  were  brought  to  Rome,  where 
they  remained  in  one  of  the  temples  till  the  time  of  the  Numantine 
war.  We  must  recollect  that  the  fir^t  Punic  war  waa  the  subject 
of  Ne&vius*  poem.       * . 


DEFEAT  OP  THE  ROMANS.        %"*  183 

sentiments  conceived  so  high  an  opinion  of  his  talents,  that 
it  was  resolved  to  give  him  the  command  of  the  army  ;  and 
he  speedily  infused  confidence  into  the  minds  of  the  soldiery, 
who  readily  observed  his  superiority  over  their  former  com- 
manders. In  reliance  on  100  elephants  and  a  body  of  6000 
horse  he  ventured  to  offer  battle  to  the  Romans,  although  he 
had  but  14,000  foot,  and  theirs  now  amounted  to  upwards  of 
32,000  men.  He  placed  the  mercenaries  on  the  right,  the 
Punic  troops  on  the  left;  the  elephants  were  ranged  one 
deep  in  front  of  the  line,  the  cavalry  and  light  troops  were  on 
the  flanks.  The  Romans  put  their  light  troops  in  advance 
against  the  elephants,  and  drew  up  the  legionaries  much 
deeper  than  usual ;  the  horse  were  on  the  flanks.  The  left 
wing  of  the  Romans  easily  defeated  the  mercenaries  opposed 
to  them,  and  drove  them  to  their  camp ;  but  the  Punic  horse 
routed  that  of  the  Romans,  and  then  fell  on  the  rear  of  the 
right  wing,  against  the  front  of  which  the  elephants  were 
urged  on ;  and  when  the  Roman  soldiers  had  with  great  loss 
forced  their  way  through  them,  they  had  to  encounter  the 
dense  Carthaginian  phalanx.  Assailed  thus  on  all  sides, 
they  at  length  gave  way  and  fled ;  the  battle  being  in  the 
plain  they  were  exposed  to  the  elephants  and  horse,  and  all 
were  slain  but  five  hundred  men,  who  with  the  proconsul 
were  made  prisoners.  The  left  wing,  (about  2000  men,) 
which  had  pursued  the  mercenaries,  made  their  escape  to 
Clupea.  Xanthippus,  having  thus  saved  Carthage,  prudently 
went  home  soon  after  to  avoid  the  envy  and  jealousy  which 
as  a  stranger  he  was  sure  to  excite.  We  are  told  *  (but 
surely  we  cannot  believe  it)  that  the  Carthaginians  rewarded 
him  richly,  and  sent  some  triremes  to  convey  him  and  the 
other  Lacedaemonians  home,  but  gave  secret  orders  to  the 
captains  to  drown  them  all  on  the  way,  which  orders  were 
obeyed ! 

The  Carthaginians  laid  siege  to  Clupea,  but  the  Romans 
defended  it  gallantly.  When  intelligence  of  the  defeat 
reached  Rome,  it  was  resolved  to  send  a  fleet  without  delay 
to  bring  off"  the  survivors,  and  the  consuls  M.  ^Emilius  Pau- 
lus  and  Ser.  Fulvius  Nobilior  put  to  sea  with  three  hundred 
and  fifty  ships.  The  Punic  fleet  engaged  them  off"  the  Her- 
maic  cape,  and  was  defeated  with  the  loss  of  104  sliips  sunk, 
30  taken,  and  30,000  men  slain  or  drowned.  The  Romans 
then  landed,  and  having  defeated  the  Punic  army  obliged 
them  to  raise  the  siege ;  but  seeing  that  the  country  was  so 

*  Zonoras,  viii.  13.    Appian,  Punica,  3.    Silius,  Pun.  vi.  680. 


184%^  HISTORY    OF    ROME. 


W' 


exhausted  that  no  supplies  could  be  had,  they  prepared  to 
reembark  and  depart. 

It  was  now  after  the  summer  solstice,  a  stormy  and  peril- 
ous season  in  the  Mediterranean.  The  pilots  earnestly 
advised  to  avoid  the  south  coast  of  Sicily,  and  rather  to  sail 
along  the  north  coast.  But  as  this  was  chiefly  in  the  hands 
of  the  Carthaginians,  the  consuls  would  not  attend  to  the 
advice  of  their  pilots.  They  set  sail,  and  got  safely  across; 
bqt  on  the  coast  of  Camarina  the  fleet  was  assailed  by  so 
furious  a  tempest  that  but  eighty  ships  escaped.  The  whole 
coast  thence  to  Pachynus  was  covered  with  wrecks,  and  with 
the  bodies  of  drowned  men.  Hiero  acted  on  this  occasion 
as  a  faithful  ally,  supplying  the  survivors  with  food  and  rai- 
ment and  with  all  necessaries.  The  remaining  ships  then 
sailed  for  Messana. 

The  courage  of  the  Carthaginians  rose  when  they  heard  of 
this  misfortune ;  they  got  ready  two  hundred  ships,  and  sent 
Hasdrubal  with  his  army  and  one  hundred  and  forty  ele- 
phants over  to  Sicily.  The  Roman  senate,  nothing  dismayed 
by  the  loss  of  their  fleet,  gave  orders  to  build  a  new  one ; 
and  in  three  months  they  had  one  of  two  hundred  and 
twenty  ships  afloat;  with  which  the  consuls  Cn.  Cornelius 
Scipio  and  A.  Atilius  Calatinus  (498)  sailed  to  Messana, 
whence,  being  joined  by  the  ships  there,  they  went  and  laid 
siege  to  Panormus.  The  new  town  being  taken  by  storm, 
the  old  town  capitulated;  those  who  could  pay  a  ransom  of 
two  pounds  of  silver  were  allowed  to  depart,  leaving  their 
property  behind ;  those  who  could  not  pay  that  sum  were 
sold  for  slaves ;  of  the  former  there  were  10,000,  of  the 
latter  13,000.  Tyndaris,  Soloeis,  and  some  other  towns  on 
that  coast,  then  submitted. 

The  consuls  of  the  next  year,  (499,)  Cn.  Servilius  and  C. 
Sempronius,  sailed  over,  and  made  various  descents  on  the 
coast  of  Africa.  But  their  ignorance  of  the  ebb  and  flood 
in  the  little  Syrtis  was  near  causing  the  loss  of  the  whole 
fleet ;  the  ships  went  aground  on  the  shoals,  and  it  was  only 
by  throwing  all  the  burdens  overboard  that  they  were  got  off. 
They  then  sailed  round  Lilybaeum  to  Panormus,  and  thence 
boldly  stretched  across  for  the  coast  of  Italy;  but  off  Cape 
Palinurus  they  encountered  a  fearful  storm,  in  which  they 
lost  upwards  of  one  hundred  aftd  fifty  ships.  The  senate 
and  people,  quite  cast  down  by  this  last  calamity,  resolved  to 
send  no  more  fleets  to  sea,  but  to  keep  only  sixty  ships  to 
convoy  transports  and  guard  the  coast  of  Italy. 


DEATH    OF    REGULUS.  185 

Nothing  of  importance  marks  the  next  two  years  ;  but  in 
502,  Hasdrubal,  encouraged  by  the  want  of  spirit  shown  of 
late  by  the  Romans,  led  his  army  from  Lilybaeum  toward 
Panormus.  The  Roman  proconsul  L.  Caecilius  Metellus, 
who  was  lying  there  with  an  army  to  protect  the  harvest,  fell 
back  to  the  town.  He  set  his  light  troops,  well  supplied 
with  missiles,  outside  of  the  ditch,  with  orders  if  hard-pressed 
to  retire  behind  it  and  continue  the  contest ;  and  directed 
the  workmen  of  the  town  to  carry  out  missiles  for  them, 
and  lay  them  under  the  wall.  He  kept  the  main  body  of  his 
troops  within  the  town,  and  sent  constant  reenforcements  to 
those  without.  When  the  Punic  host  came  near,  the  drivers 
urged  on  the  elephants  against  the  light  troops,  whom  they 
drove  behind  the  ditch  ;  but  as  they  still  pressed  on,  showers 
of  missiles  from  the  walls  and  from  those  at  the  ditch,  killed, 
wounded,  and  drove  furious  the  elephants ;  and  Metellus, 
taking  advantage  of  the  confusion  thus  caused,  led  out  his 
troops  and  fell  on  the  flank  of  the  enemy.  The  defeat  was 
decisive  ;  some  were  slain,  others  drowned  in  attempting  to 
swim  to  a  Punic  fleet  that  was  at  hand ;  the  whole  loss  was 
twenty  thousand  men  ;  one  hundred  and  four  elephants  were 
taken,  and  all  the  rest  killed.  After  this  defeat  the  Cartha- 
ginians abandoned  Selinus,  whose  inhabitants  they  removed 
to  Lilybaeum,  which  place  and  Drepana  alone  remained  in 
their  lands. 

An  embassy  to  propose  a  peace,  or  at  least  an  exchange 
of  prisoners,  was  now  despatched  to  Rome,  and  Regulus, 
who  had  been  five  years  a  captive,  accompanied  it,  on  his 
promise  to  return  if  it  proved  unsuccessful.  The  tale  of  his 
heroism,  as  transmitted  to  us  by  the  Roman  writers,  is  one 
of  the  most  famed  in  Roman  story.  Unhappily,  like  so  many 
others,  it  passes  the  limits  of  truth. 

Regulus,  we  are  told,  refused,  as  being  the  slave  of  the 
Carthaginians,  to  enter  Rome;  with  their  consent  he  at- 
tended the  debates  of  the  senate,  whom  he  urged  on  no 
account  to  think  of  peace,  or  even  of  an  exchange  of  pris^ 
oners ;  and,  lest  regard  for  him  should  sway  them,  he 
affirmed  that  a  slow  poison  had  been  given  him,  and  he  must 
shortly  die.  The  senate  voted  as  he  wished ;  and,  rejecting 
the  embraces  of  his  friends  and  relatives,  as  being  now  dis- 
honored, he  returned  to  his  prison.  The  Carthaginians,  in 
their  rage  at  his  conduct,  resolved  to  give  him  the  most 
cruel  death;  they  cut  off" his  eyelids,  and  exposed  him  to  the 
rays  of  the  sun,  enclosed  in  a  cask  or  chest  set  full  of  sharp 
16*  X 


186  HISTORY    OF    ROME.  ^ 

spikes,  where  pain  and  want  of  food  and  deep  terminated 
his  existence.* 

Regulus,  there  can  be  no  doubt,  died  at  Carthage,  but 
probably  of  a  natural  death.  The  senate  had  put  the  Puni6 
generals  Bostar  and  Hamilcar  into  the  hands  of  his  family 
as  hostages  for  his  safety ;  and,  when  his  wife  heard  of  his 
death,  she  attributed  it  to  neglect  and  want  of  care,  and  in 
revenge  treated  her  prisoners  with  such  cruelty  that  Bostar 
died,  and  Hamilcar  would  have  shared  his  fate,  but  that  the 
matter  came  to  the  ears  of  the  government.  The  young 
Atilii  only  escaped  capital  punishment  by  throwing  all  the 
blame  on  their  mother;  the  body  of  Bostar  was  burnt  and 
the  ashes  sent  home  to  Carthage,  and  Hamilcar  was  released 
from  his  dungeon.f 

After  their  victory  at  Panormus  the  Romans  proceeded 
with  an  army  of  forty  thousand  men  and  a  fleet  of  two  hun- 
dred ships  to  lay  siege  to  the  strong  town  of  LilybaBum.  But 
it  was  gallantly  defended  by  its  governor  Himilco,  and 
resisted  all  the  efforts  of  the  Romans,  aided  by  the  artillery 
with  which  the  Syracusans  supplied  them,  during  the  re- 
mainder of  the  war. 

In  fact,  the  remaining  nine  years  of  the  wat-  (502 — 511) 
were  years  of  almost  constant  misfortune  and  disgrace  to  the 
Romans;  and  had  the  Carthaginian  system  been  the  same 
as  theirs,  and  the  same  obstinate  perseverance  been  mani- 
fested, the  final  advantage  would  probably  have  been  on  the 
side  of  Carthage.  In  the  beginning  of  the  war  the  Roman 
generals,  for  instance,  had  had  a  decided  superiority ;  now 
the  case  was  reversed,  and  Himilco,  Hannibal,  and  above  all 
Hamilcar  Barcas  {^Lightning  J)  far  excelled  those  opposed  to 
them. 

We  will  pass  over  the  details  of  the  events  of  these  years, 
only  noticing  the  following,  as  it  relates  to  the  internal  his- 

*  Cicero  against  Piso,  19.  Off.  iii.  27.  Fin.  v.  27.  Gellius,  vii.  24. 
Horace,  Carm.  iii.  5, 41 .  Appian,  Pun.  4.  According  to  Silius  (ii.  1^43) 
Regulus  was  crucified,  Zonaras,  (viii.  15,)  following  perhaps  Dion, 
gives  the  common  account,  but  speaks  dubiously,  (wc  »/  ^»/V>2  Xlyti.) 
Perhaps  all  this  testimony  is  more  than  Outweighed  by  the  significant 
silence  of  Polybius,  who  narrates  the  war  in  detail. 

i  Diodorus,  xxiv.  1.  Zonaras  as  above.  If  this  story  be  true,  the 
preceding  one  can  hardly  be  so. 

X  From  the  Punic  or  Hebrew  word  Barak.  Hence  perhaps  Barak, 
the  lieutenant  of  Deborah,  (Judges,  ch.  iv.)  had  his  name  ;  the  Scipios 
were  called  fulmivxi  belli.  Yilderim  (Lightning)  was  a  surname  of  the 
celiebrated  Turkish  snltan  B&y«ziti. 


■  i 


DEFEAT    OF    CLAUDIUS.  187 

tory  of  Rome.  In  the  year  503  the  consul  P.  Claudius 
Pulcher  sailed  with  a  fleet  and  army  to  Sicily,  and  leaving 
Lilybaeum  he  went  with  one  hundred  and  twenty-three  ships 
to  make  an  attempt  on  Drepanum.  He  hoped  to  surprise  it 
by  sailing  in  the  night,  but  it  was  daybreak  when  he  arrived, 
and  Adherbal,  who  was  there,  had  time  to  get  his  fleet  out  to 
give  him  battle.  The  pullarii  told  the  consul  that  the  sacred 
chickens  would  not  eat ;  "  if  they  will  not  eat,"  said  he, 
'*  they  must  drink  ; "  and  he  ordered  them  to  be  flung  into 
the  sea.*  A  battle  thus  entered  into  in  contempt  of  the 
religious  feelings  of  the  people  could  not  well  be  prosperous  ; 
the  Roman  fleet  was  totally  defeated  ;  ninety-three  ships  with 
all  their  crews  were  taken  by  the  enemy ;  the  consul  fled 
with  only  thirty.  Claudius  on  coming  to  Rome  was  ordered 
to  name  a  dictator  ;  with  the  usual  insolence  of  his  family  he 
nominated  his  client  M.  Claudius  Glicia,  the  son  of  a  freed- 
man.  The  senate  in  indignation  deprived  the  unworthy 
dictator  of  his  office,  and  appointed  A.  Atilius  Calatinus, 
afterwards  named  Serranus^  (Sower,)  because  he  was  found 
by  those,  who  came  to  inform  him  of  his  elevation,  soioing. 
the  corn  with  his  own  hand  in  his  little  plebeian  farm.t 
Claudius  was  prosecuted  for  violation  of  the  majesty  of  the 
people,  and  he  did  not  long  survive  the  disgrace,  dying 
probably  by  his  own  hand,  like  so  many  of  his  family. 

The  Romans  were  so  disheartened  by  this  last  defeat  that 
for  five  years  they  remained  without  a  navy.  At  length, 
seeing  that  unless  they  could  prevent  supplies  from  being 
sent  to  Hamilcar  from  home,  there  would  be  no  end  to  the 
war,  they  resolved  once  more  to  build  a  fleet.  But  the 
treasury  was  exhausted ;  public  spirit  however,  as  at  times 
in  Greece,  impelled  the  wealthy  citizens  to  come  forward, 
and  each  giving  according  to  his  means,  a  fleet  of  two  hun- 
dred ships,  built  after  an  excellent  model,  was  got  ready, 
with  which  the  consul  C.  Lutatius  Catulus  and  the  praetor 
P.  Valerius  proceeded  to  Sicily  early  in  the  spring  of  the 
year  511. 

Lutatius,  finding  thg,t  the  Punic  fleet  was  gone  home, 
blockaded  both  Lilybasum  and  Drepanum  by  sea ;  and  he 
pressed  on  the  siege  of  this  last  place  with  great  vigor, 
hoping  to  take  it  before  the  fleet  could  return.  Mean- 
time, aware  that  he  would  have  to  fight  at  sea,  he  had  his 

*  Cicero  de  Nat.  Deor.  ii.  3;  de  Div.  i.  X6.  ii.  8.    Uv.  Epit.  19. 
t  Pliny,  H.  N.  xviii.  4.    Val.  Max.  iv.  6, 4. 


188  HISTORY   OF    ROME. 

crews  daily  put  through  their  exercise.  When  it  was  known 
at  Carthage  that  a  Roman  fleet  was  again  on  the  coast  of 
Sicily,  the  ships  of  war  were  all  got  ready  for  sea,  and 
laden  with  corn  and  all  things  requisite  for  the  army  of  Ha- 
milcar,  who  was  besieging  the  town  of  Eryx ;  and  the  ad- 
miral, Hanno,  was  directed  to  sail  thither  without  delay, 
and,  having  landed  the  stores,  to  take  on  board  some  of  the 
best  troops,  and  Hamilcar  with  them,  and  then  to  force  the 
enemy  to  an  engagement.  Hanno  accordingly  sailed  to 
the  isles  named  Agates,*  off  Cape  Lilybaeum,  and  there 
landed.  Lutatius,  on  learning  that  the  Punic  fleet  was  at 
sea,  and  judging  of  its  object,  took  some  of  the  best  troops 
on  board,  intending  to  give  battle  in  the  morning.  During 
the  night  the  wind  changed ;  it  blew  strong,  and  favorable 
to  the  enemy,  and  the  sea  grew  somewhat  rough.  The 
consul  was  in  doubt  how  to  act ;  but  reflecting  that  if  he 
gave  batrie  now  he  should  only  have  to  fight  Hanno,  and 
that  too  with  his  ships  heavily  laden,  whereas  if  he  waited 
for  fine  weather  he  should  have  to  engage  a  fleet  in  fighting 
order  with  picked  troops,  and  above  all  with  the  forrilidable 
Hamilcar  on  board,  he  resolved  to  hesitate  no  longer.  He 
advanced  in  line  of  battle ;  the  heavy  ships  and  raw  levies 
of  the  Carthaginians  could  ill  resist  the  expedite  quinque- 
remes  and  seasoned  troops  of  the  Romans,  and  the  issue  of 
the  contest  was  not  long  dubious  :  fifty  Punic  ships  were 
sunk,  seventy  taken ;  the  number  of  the  prisoners  amounted 
to  ten  thousand. 

This  defeat  quite  broke  the  spirit  of  the  Carthaginians. 
Having  vented  their  rage  as  usual  on  their  unfortunate 
admiral  by  crucifying  him,  they  gave  full  powers  to  Ha- 
milcar to  treat  of  peace  with  the  Roman  consul,  who,  aware 
of  the  exhausted  condition  of  Rome,  gladly  hearkened  to 
the  overtures  of  the  Punic  general,  and  peace  was  concluded 
on  the  following  terms,  subject  to  the  approbation  of  the 
Roman  people.  The  Carthaginians  were  to  evacuate  all 
Sicily,  and  not  to  make  war  on  Hiero  or  his  allies;  they 
were  to  release  all  the  Roman  prisoners  without  ransom; 
and  to  pay  the  Romans  the  sum  of  2200  Euboic  talents  in 
the  course  of  twenty  years.  The  people,  thinking  these 
terms  too  favorable  to  Carthage,  sent  out  ten  commission- 
ers to  Sicily,  and  by  these  the  sum  to  be  paid  was  increased 

*  Liv.  Epit.  19.  Polybius  speaks  of  but  one  isle,  and  names  it 
JEg^sa. 


PEACE    WITH    CARTHAGE.  189 

a  thousand  talents,  and  the  terms  reduced  to  ten  years,  and 
the  Carthaginians  were  obliged  to  evacuate  the  islands  be- 
tween Italy  and  Sicily,  and  forbidden  to  send  any  ship  of 
war  off  the  coast  of  the  territory  of  Rome  or  her  allies,  or 
to  enlist  troops  in  Italy. 

Thus,  after  a  duration  of  twenty-four  years,  terminated 
the  first  war  between  Rome  and  Carthage.  The  efforts 
and  the  sacrifices  made  by  the  former  state  were  greater 
than  at  any  period  of  her  history.  The  Roman  population 
was  reduced  by  half  a  million  in  the  contest ;  the  Italian 
allies  must  have  diminished  in  proportion :  seven  hundred 
ships  of  war  were  lost ;  the  enormous  property  taxes  which 
they  had  to  pay  oppressed  the  people  beyond  measure ; 
large  portions  of  the  domain  were  sold,  and  this,  with  the 
sale  of  small  properties  in  land,  caused  by  distress,  gave 
origin  to  the  great  inequality  of  property  which  afterwards 
proved  so  pernicious  to  the  state.  On  the  side  of  Carthage, 
the  war  was  little  less  injurious.  It  is  true  she  did  not, 
like  Rome,  lavish  the  blood  of  her  own  citizens,  but  she 
had  to  pay  her  mercenaries  high,  and  for  this  purpose  to 
increase  the  taxes  of  her  subjects,  and  thereby  augment 
their  discontent ;  all  the  imposts  were  doubled,  and  the 
land-tax  was  raised  to  one  half  of  the  produce.* 

The  peace  left  Rome  mistress  of  Sicily  ;  and  so  exhausted 
was  the  island  by  the  war,  that  the  purchase  seemed  hardly 
worth  the  cost.  The  occasion  of  the  war  was  evidently 
unjust  on  the  side  of  Rome ;  and  it  would  appear  that 
her  wiser  policy  had  been  to  confine  herself  to  Italy ;  but 
in  reality  the  choice  was  not  in  her  power,  for  Carthage 
was  now  extending  her  dominion  over  the  West,  and  the 
contest  for  empire  or  existence  must  have  come  sooner  or 
later.  We  must  also  bear  in  mind,  that  the  empire  of  the 
world  had  been  destined  by  Providence  for  Rome. 

Sicily  being  the  first  country  acquired  out  of  Italy,  it  was 
the  first  example  of  a  Roman  province.^  A  governor  was 
sent  to  it  annually  ;  all  war  was  prohibited  among  its  people ; 
excise,  land-tax,  and  other  taxes  were  paid  to  Rome ;  but  no 
public  lands  were  retained  there,  and  no  assignments  made 
to  Roman  citizens. 

Hiero  continued  to  the  end  of'  a  long  life  to  rule  his  little 

*  Carthage  lost  500  ships  in  the  war. 

t  Promncia  Niebuhr  regards  as  equivalent  with  proventuSf  and  paral- 
lel to  vectigal. 


190  HISTORIC   OF   ROME. 

realm  of  Syracuse  as  the  favored  ally  of  Rome :  and  his 
wisdom,  justice,  and  beneficence  caused  the  Syracusans  to 
enjoy  more  real  happiness  than  they  had  done  at  any  period 
of  their  history.* 


CHAPTER.  II.f 

CIVIL  WAR  AT  CARTHAGE.  —  IL^YRIAN  WAR. — GALLIC  WARS. 

Scarcely  had  the  Carthaginians  concluded  the  war  with 
Rome  when  they  were  engaged  in  another  which  menaced 
their  very  existence.  The  mercenaries  who  had  served  in 
Sicily,  enraged  at  their  pay  and  the  rewards  which  Hamil- 
car  had  promised  them  being  withheld,  turned  their  arms 
against  the  state.  They  laid  siege  to  Carthage,  Hippo,  and 
Utica.  Most  of  the  subjects,  exacerbated  by  the  enormous 
imposts  which  had  been  laid  on  them,  joined  them,  and  they 
defeated  the  only  army  that  Carthage  could  assemble.  At 
length  the  conduct  of  the  war  was  committed  to  Hamilcar, 
and  by  his  able  measures  he  succeeded  in  annihilating  the 
revolters.  The  war,  one  of  the  most  sanguinary  and  fero- 
cious ever  known,  lasted  three  years  and  four  months.  It 
gave  the  world  an  example  of  the  danger  of  having  the  army 
of  a  state  entirely  composed  of  mercenaries. 

During  this  war  the  Romans  acted  with  honor :  they 
set  the  Punic  prisoners  who  were  in  Italy  at  liberty ;  they 
allowed  provisions  to  be  sent  to  Carthage,  but  not  to  the 
quarters  of  the  rebels ;  and  when  the  troops  in  Sardinia,  who 
had  also  revolted,  applied  to  them  for  aid  they  refused  it. 
They  could  not,  however,  persist  in  this  honorable  course  : 
on  a  second  application  from  these  troops,  who  were  hard 
pressed  by  the  native  Sards,  they  sent  a  force  thither ;  and 
when  the  Carthaginians  were  preparing  to  assert  their  do- 
minion over  the  island,  they  were  menaced  with  a  war  with 
Rome.  They  were  therefore  obliged  to  give  up  all  claim 
to  Sardinia,  and  even  to  pay  an  additional   sum  of  1200 

*  We  here  lose  the  invaluable  guidance  of  Niebuhr,  whose  work 
terminates  at  this  point. 
t  Polybius,  i.  65  to  the  end,  ii.  1—35. 


ILLYRIAN   WAR.  191 

talents,  as  compensation  for  injuries  they  were  alleged  to 
have  done  the  Roman  merchant  shipping.  This  flagrant 
injustice  on  the  part  of  the  Romans  rankled  in  the  mind  of 
the  Carthaginians,  and  it  is  assigned  as  the  chief  cause  of  the 
second  Punic  war,  which  inflicted  so  much  misery  on  Italy. 

For  several  years  now  the  Romans  were  engaged  in  re- 
ducing the  barbarous  natives  of  Sardinia  and  Corsica,  and 
in  extending  their  dominion  northwards  in  Italy.  It  was 
also  at  this  time  that  they  first  began  to  turn  their  views 
over  the  Adriatic,  and  regard  the  state  of  Greece.  The  fol- 
lowing was  the  first  occasion. 

The  Illyrians  had  for  a  long  time  been  united  under  one 
head,  and  had  exercised  robbery  and  piracy  on  a  large 
scale  by  sea  and  by  land.  Their  last  king,  Agron,*  dying 
from  intemperance  caused  by  his  joy  at  his  subjects  having 
taken  and  plundered  the  wealthy  town  of  Phoenice  in  Epirus, 
his  widow  Teuta  assumed  the  government  as  guardian  to 
her  infant  son.  Piracy  was  now  carried  to  a  greater  extent 
than  ever,  and  continual  complaints  came  to  the  Roman  sen- 
ate from  their  subjects  on  the  east  coast  of  Italy.  C.  and  L. 
Coruncanius  were  therefore  sent  (522)  as  ambassadors  to 
Teuta :  she  treated  them  with  great  haughtiness,  and  the 
younger  of  the  envoys  told  her  that,  with  the  help  of  God, 
the  Romans  would  make  her  amend  the  royal  authority  in 
Illyria.  They  departed  ;  and  the  queen,  offended  at  his  free- 
dom of  speech,  sent  some  persons  after  him  who  murdered 
him.  This  breach  of  the  law  of  nations  was  followed  by 
a  declaration  of  war  by  the  Romans. 

The  following  spring  (523)  the  consul  Cn.  Fulvius  sailed 
from  Rome  with  two  hundred  ships,  while  his  colleague 
L.  Postumius  led  a  land  army  of  20,000  foot  and  2000  horse 
to  Brundisium.  Fulvius  directed  his  course  to  the  isle  of 
Corcyra,  of  which  the  Illyrians  were  now  masters ;  but 
Demetrius  of  Pharus,t  who  commanded  there,  having  in- 
curred the  wrath  of  Teuta,  had  sent,  offering  to  put  it  into 
the  hands  of  the  Romans.  He  kept  his  word,  and  the  Cor- 
cyraeans  gladly  submitted  to  the  Roman  dominion.  Fulvius 
then  passed  over  to  Apollonia,  where  he  was  joined  by 
Postumius.  This  city  also  put  itself  under  the  protection  of 
Rome,  and  Epidamnus  or  Dyrrachium,  whither  they  next 

*  Agron  was  great-grandson  of  Bardylis,  who  fell  in  battle  against 
Philip  of  Macedonia.     (History  of  Greece,  Part  III.  c.  1.) 
t  This  was  an  island  on  the  coast  of  Illyria. 


192  BISTORT   OF   ROME. 

proceeded,  did  the  same.  The  consuls  then  entered  Illyria, 
where  several  tribes  revolted  from  Teuta;  and,  leaving 
Demetrius  to  rule  over  them,  Fulvius  returned  to  Rome, 
while  Postumius  wintered  at  Epidamnus.  In  the  spring 
(524)  Teuta  obtained  peace,  on  condition  of  paying  tribute, 
giving  up  all  claim  to  the  greater  part  of  Illyria,  and  enga- 
ging not  to  sail  from  her  port  of  Lissus  with  more  than  two 
barks,  and  these  unarmed.*  Postumius  sent  to  inform  the 
iEtolian  and  Achaean  leagues  of  this  peace.  Embassies 
were  soon  after  despatched  to  Athens  and  Corinth,  and  at 
this  last  place  the  Romans  were  allowed  to  join  in  the  Isth- 
mian games. 

In  the  year  514  a  war  had  commenced  with  the  Boian 
Gauls,  supported  by  some  of  their  kindred  tribes  and  by  the 
Ligurians.  It  was  continued  through  the  following  year, 
with  advantage  on  the  side  of  the  Romans.  In  516  a  large 
body  of  Transalpine  Gauls  came  to  the  aid  of  the  Boians; 
but  at  Ariminum  they  fell  out  among  themselves,  killed  their 
kings,  and  slaughtered  one  another.  The  survivors  returned 
home,  and  the  Boians  and  Ligurians  were  glad  to  obtain 
peace.  The  following  year  the  temple  of  Janus  at  Rome, 
which  was  to  be  closed  in  time  of  peace,  was  shut,  for  the 
first  time,  it  is  said,  since  the  reign  of  Numa. 

Four  years  after  this  peace  (520)  the  tribune  C.  Flaminius 
brought  in  a  bill  to  assign  the  Picentine  district,  which  had 
been  occupied  by  the  Senonian  Gauls,  and  which  they  still 
held  as  tenants  to  the  state.  The  Boians  and  other  neigh- 
boring tribes  saw  in  this  a  plan  of  the  Romans  to  deprive 
them  all  gradually  of  their  lands,  and  they  determined  on 
resistance.  The  Boians  and  Isumbrians  sent  to  invite  the 
Gaesatans,  who  dwelt  on  the  Rhone,  to  come  and  share  in  a 
war  in  which  great  plunder  was  expected.  The  invitation 
was  readily  accepted;  and  in  the  eighth  year  after  the  divis- 
ion of  the  Picentine  land,  (527,)  the  Gaesatans  crossed  the 
Alps  and  descended  into  the  plain  of  the  Po,  where  they 
were  joined  by  all  the  Gallic  tribes  except  the  Venetians  and 
the  Cenomanians,  whom  the  Romans  had  gained  over  to 
their  side.  With  a  host  of  50,000  foot  and  20,000  horse 
and  chariots  they  then  crossed  the  Apennines  and  entered 
Etruria. 

*  The  Romans  afterwards  (533)  made  war  on  Demetrius  for  breach 
of  this  treaty,  and  he  had  to  seek  refuge  with  Philip  II.  of  Macedonia, 
in  whose  service  he  spent  the  remainder  of  his  life. 


GALLIC    WARS.  193 

The  terror  caused  at  Rome  by  this  irruption  of  the  Gauls 
was  great.  All  Italy  shared  in  it,  and  prepared  to  resist  the 
invaders.  The  number  of  men  actually  under  arms  on  this 
occasion  was  150,000  foot  and  6000  horse,  and  the  total 
amount  of  the  fighting  men  of  Rome  and  her  allies  (the 
Greeks  and  Etruscans  not  included)  was  700,000  foot  and 
70,000  horse. 

One  of  the  consuls,  C.  Atilius,  was  at  this  time  in  Sar- 
dinia ;  his  colleague,  L.  iEmilius,  had  encamped  at  Ari- 
minum  ;  one  of  the  prastors  commanded  an  army  in  Etruria. 
The  Gauls  had  reached  Clusium,  in  their  way  to  Rome, 
when  they  learned  that  the  preetor's  army  was  in  their  rear. 
They  returned,  and  by  a  stratagem  gave  this  army  a  defeat : 
six  thousand  Romans  were  slain  ;  the  rest  retired  to  a  hill, 
where  they  defended  themselves.  The  consul  ^Emilius,  who 
had  entered  Etruria,  now  came  up ;  and  the  Gauls,  in  order 
to  secure  the  immense  booty  which  they  had  acquired,  by  the 
advice  of  one  of  their  kings  declined  an  action,  resolving 
to  return  home  along  the  coast,  and  then  to  reenter  Etruria, 
light  and  unencumbered,  ^milius,  being  joined  by  the  re- 
mainder of  the  praetor's  army,  followed  their  march,  in  order 
to  harass  them  as  much  as  possible.  Meantime  Atilius  had 
landed  his  army  at  Pisa,  and  was  marching  for  Rome.  His 
advanced  guard  met  that  of  the  Gauls,  and  defeated  it.  A 
general  action  soon  commenced,  the  Gauls  being  attacked 
in  front  and  rear :  they  fought  with  skill  and  desperation ; 
but  their  swords  and  shields  were  inferior  to  those  of  the 
Romans,  and  they  were  utterly  defeated,  with  the  loss  of 
40,000  slain  and  10,000  taken  ;  that  of  the  Romans  is  not 
known.  Atilius  fell  in  the  action,  ^milius,  having  made 
a  brief  inroad  into  the  Boian  country,  returned  to  Rome  and 
triumphed. 

The  consuls  of  the  succeeding  year  (528)  reduced  the 
Boians  to  submission.  Heavy  rains  and  an  epidemic  in  their 
army  checked  all  further  operations.  Their  successors,  P. 
Furius  and  C.  Flaminius,  (the  author  of  the  war,)  carried  the 
war  beyond  the  Po,  and  ravaged  the  lands  of  the  Isumbrians, 
who  having  assembled  a  force  of  fifty  thousand  men  pre- 
pared to  give  them  battle.  The  Roman  consuls,  who  were 
devoid  of  all  military  skill,  fearing  to  trust  their  Gallic  allies, 
placed  them  on  the  south  side  of  the  Po,  the  bridges  over 
which, they  broke  down,  and  drew  up  their  troops  so  close 
to  its  edge  as  to  leave  no  space  for  the  requisite  movements, 
Eo  that  their  onlv  b/^pes  of  safety  lay  in  victory.  Fortunately 
/7  Y 


194  HISTORY    OF    ROME. 

for  the  Roman  army  the  tribunes  possessed  the  skill  the 
consuls  wanted.  Knowing  that  the  long  Gallic  broadswords 
bent  after  the  first  blow,  and  must  be  laid  under  the  foot 
and  straightened  to  be  again  of  use,  they  gave  pila  to  their 
front  ranks,  and  directed  them,  when  the  Gauls  had  bent 
their  swords  on  these,  to  fall  on  sword  in  hand.  These 
tactics  succeeded  completely ;  the  straight,  short  thrust- 
swords  of  the  Romans  did  certain  execution,  and  their  vic- 
tory was  decisive. 

After  this  defeat  the  Gauls  sent  an  embassy  to  Rome 
suing  for  peace ;  but  the  new  consuls,  M.  Claudius  Mar- 
cellus  and  Cn.  Cornelius  Scipio,  (530,)  fearing  to  lose  an 
occasion  of  distinguishing  themselves,  prevented  its  being 
granted.  The  Isumbrians  hired  thirty-three  thousand 
GsBsatans ;  but  all  their  efforts  were  unavailing ;  they  were 
every  where  defeated,  their  chief  towns  Acerrae  and  Medio- 
lanum  (Milan)  were  taken,  and  shortly  afterwards  the  colo- 
nies of  Mutina,  (Modena,)  Cremona,  and  Piacentia  founded, 
to  keep  them  in  obedience.  Marcellus  at  his  triumph  bore 
on  a  trophy  the  arms  of  the  Gallic  king  Viridomarus,  whom 
he  had  slain  with  his  own  hand,  and  suspended  them,  as  the 
third  Spolia  opima*  to  Jupiter  Feretrius,  on  the  Capitol. 

The  Roman  dominion  nOw  extended  over  the  whole  of 
Italy,  Sicily,  Sardinia,  Corsica,  Illyria,  and  Corcyra,  and 
the  towns  of  the  coast  of  Epirus. 


CHAPTER  Ill.t 

CONQUESTS    OF    THE    CARTHAGINIANS  IN    SPAIN. TAKING  OP 

SAGUNTUM. MARCH    OF    HANNIBAL    FOR    ITALY. HANNI- 

BAL's    passage    OF    THE  ALPS. BATTLE    OF    THE   TICINUS. 

BATTLE  OF  THE  TREBIA. BATTLE  OF   THE    TRASIMENE 

LAKE. HANNIBAL  AND  FABIUS  CUNCTATOR. BATTLE  OF 

CANNiE. PROGRESS    OF    HANNIBAL. 

While  the  Romans  were  thus  extending  their  dominion 
in  Cisalpine  Gaul,  the  Carthaginians  were  equally  active  in 

*'  Plut.  Marcellus,  7.    The  other  two  are  the  fictitious  ones  of  Romu- 
lus, the  real  of  Cossus.     See  above,  p.  104. 

t  For  the  second  Punic  war  we  have  the  third  decad  of  Livy,  who 


CONQ,UESTS    OF   THE    CARTHAGINIANS    IN    SPAIN.    195 

forming  an  empire  in  Spain.  The  loss  of  Sicily  and  Sar- 
dinia, and  the  heavy  sura  of  money  exacted  from  them  by 
the  Romans,  had  increased  their  enmity  to  them  ;  and  Ha- 
milcar,  conscious  of  his  great  talents,  and  that  by  the  fault 
of  others  he  had  been  obliged  to  give  up  his  hopes  of  re- 
covering Sicily,  and  filled  with  hatred  to  the  Roman  name, 
burned  to  possess  the  means  of  waging  war  with  them  once 
more.  The  possession  of  Spain  he  saw  would  give  abun- 
dance of  men  and  money,  and  the  divided  state  of  the  nations 
and  tribes  who  held  it  would  make  the  acquisition  of  do- 
minion easy.  As  soon,  therefore,  as  the  civil  war  was  ended^ 
and  the  Numidians  who  had  shared  in  it  were  reduced,  he 
embarked  his  army,  (514,)  and  landed  at  Gades,  (Cadiz.)  He 
was  attended  by  his  son-in-law  Hasdrubal  and  his  son  Han- 
nibal, then  a  child  of  nine  years  of  age.  As  he  was  offering 
sacrifice  previous  to  embarkation,  he  made  those  who  were 
present  withdraw  a  little ;  then  leading  his  son  up  to  the 
altar,  he  asked  him  if  he  would  go  with  him ;  and  on  his 
giving  a  cheerful  assent,  he  made  him  lay  his  hand  on  the 
flesh  of  the  victim,  and  swear  eternal  enmity  to  Rome. 

During  nine  years  Hamilcar  carried  on  a  successful  war 
in  Spain.  He  reduced  the  modern  Andalusia  and  Estra- 
madura,  and  penetrated  into  Portugal  and  Leon.  Hamilcar 
fell  (523)  in  an  engagement  with  the  people  of  the  country. 
The  army  chose  Hasdrubal  to  succeed  him,  and  the  Cartha- 
ginian senate  confirmed  their  choice,  and  sent  him  addi- 
tional troops.  Hasdrubal,  by  his  talents,  his  mildness,  jus- 
tice, and  good  policy,  won  the  affections  of  the  Spaniards, 
and  extended  the  dominion  of  Carthage  to  the  river  Iberus, 
(Ebro;)  and  he  founded  on  the  coast  the  city  of  New  Car- 
thage (Carthagena)  for  the  capital,  which  soon  nearly  rivals- 
led  Carthage  itself  in  extent  and  wealth.  This  able  general 
perished  by  the  hand  of  an  assassin  in  the  eighth  year  of  his 
command,  (531,)  and  the  army,  as  before,  assuming  the 
right  of  appointment,  set  Hannibal,  the  son  of  Hamilcar,  who 
had  been  second  in  command  to  Hasdrubal,  in  his  place,  and 
their  choice  was  confirmed  by  the  government. 

Hannibal,  who  was  now  twenty-five  years  of  age,  felt  that 
the  time  for  executing  his  father's  projects  against  Rome 
was  at  hand.  He  proposed  to  march  a  veteran  army  into 
Italy,  and  he  hoped  that  one  or  more  decisive  victories  there 

followed  Polybius ;  also  this  last  writer's  own  narrative  to  the  battle  of 
Gannee  consecutively ;  and,  for  the  conclusion,  Appian's  Punica  and 
Hannibalian  War ;  Plutarch's  lives  of  Marcellus  and  Fabius  Maximus. 


196  HISTORY  OF    ROME. 

would  induce  the  Samnites  and  other  Italian  peoples  to  rise 
and  assert  their  independence.  In  order  to  extend  the  Punic 
dominion  still  further  in  Spain,  to  enrich  his  troops,  and  to 
give  them  confidence  in  themselves  and  their  general,  he  led 
them  into  the  country  of  the  Olcades,  on  the  Anas,  (Guadi- 
ana,)  and  took  their  chief  town,  named  Althaea  or  Carteia. 
The  following  spring  (532)  he  entered  the  country  of  the 
Vaccaeans,  and  took  their  towns  of  Elmantica  or  Herman- 
dica,  and  Arbucala ;  and  as  he  was  on  the  way  back  to  New 
Carthage,  he  defeated  on  the  banks  of  the  Tagus  an  army 
of  more  than  one  hundred  thousand  Spaniards  who  came  to 
oppose  him.  The  whole  of  Spain  south  of  the  Ebro,  with 
the  exception  of  the  city  of  Saguntum,  now  obeyed  the 
power  of  Carthage.  The  people  of  this  town,  who  claimed 
a  Greek  origin,  and  the  other  Greek  towns  on  the  coast  of 
Spain,  had  put  themselves  under  the  protection  of  Rome,  and 
a  Roman  embassy  was  sent  to  Carthage,  in  the  time  of  Has- 
drubal,  to  stipulate  for  their  independence,  and  to  require 
that  the  Punic  power  should  not  be  extended  beyond  the 
Ebro.  The  Saguntines,  aware  of  the  ultimate  designs  of 
Hannibal,  sent  pressing  embassies  to  Rome,  praying  for  aid, 
as  Hannibal,  having  caused  a  quarrel  between  them  and 
the  Torboletans,  menaced  their  existence.  An  embassy  was 
therefore  sent  to  Hannibal,  who  gave  a  haughty,  evasive 
reply,  and  sending  to  Carthage  for  instructions,  he  received 
power  to  act  as  he  deemed  best.  Under  the  pretext  of 
aiding  the  Torboletans,  he  therefore  came  and  laid  siege  to 
Saguntum  with  an  army  of  150,000  men.  The  conquest 
of  this  town  was  an  object  of  the  utmost  importance  in  his 
eyes;  he  would  thus  deprive  the  Romans  of  the  place  of 
arms  which  they  had  in  view  for  carrying  on  the  war  in 
Spain  ;  he  would  strike  the  Spaniards  with  a  salutary  dread 
of  the  Punic  power,  and  leave  no  enemy  of  importance  in 
his  rear  on  his  proposed  way  for  Italy  :  and  he  would  acquire 
vast  wealth  for  the  prosecution  of  the  war. 

During  eight  months  the  Saguntines  made  a  most  heroic 
resistance.  Their  applications  to  Rome  for  aid  were  vain, 
as  they  produced  nothing  but  fruitless  embassies  to  Hanni- 
bal and  to  Carthage.  At  length  the  town  was  stormed,  all 
within  it  slaughtered  or  enslaved,  and  the  immense  booty 
sent  to  Carthage  or  reserved  for  the  war.  The  Romans, 
when  they  heard  of  the  capture  of  Saguntum,  issued  a  dec- 
laration of  war  unless  Hannibal  was  given  up  to  them,  and 
sent  an  embassy  for  this  purpose  to  Carthage.     The  chief 


MARCH    OF    HANNIBAL   FOR   ITALY.  197 

of  the  embassy,  Q,.  Fabius  Maximus,  simply  stated  the  de- 
mands of  Rome;  the  Carthaginian  senate  hesitated,  not 
willing  to  surrender  Hannibal,  and  as  little  inclined  to  say 
that  he  had  acted  by  public  authority.  Fabius  then,  holding 
up  his  toga,  said,  "  In  this  I  bear  peace  or  war,  take  which 
ye  will."  "Give  which  you  please,"  replied  the  SufTes. 
"  War,  then,"  cried  he,  shaking  it  out.  "  We  receive  it," 
was  shouted  forth  on  all  sides.  The  embassy  returned  to 
Rome,  whence  the  consul  Tib.  Sempronius  was  already 
gone  to  Sicily,  with  160  ships  and  26,000  men,  in  order  to 
pass  over  to  Africa,  while  his  colleague  P.  Cornelius  Scipio 
had  sailed  for  Spain  with  sixty  quinqueremes  and  24,000 
men,  and  the  praetor  L.  Manlius  commanded  a  third  army 
of  about  20,000  men  in  Cisalpine  Gaul. 

During  the  winter  Hannibal  made  all  the  requisite  ar- 
rangements for  the  defence  of  Africa  and  Spain,  and  he 
formed  treaties  with  the  Gauls  on  both  sides  of  the  Alps.  In 
the  beginning  of  the  spring  (534)  he  assembled  his  army  of 
90,000  foot,  12,000  horse,  and  37  elephants,  at  New  Car- 
thage, and  committing  the  government  of  Spain  to  his 
brother  Hasdrubal,  and  leaving  him  a  force  of  about  15,000 
men  and  fifty-seven  ships  of  war,  he  crossed  the  Ebro  on 
his  way  for  Italy.  In  his  progress  thence  to  the  Pyrenees 
he  overcame  the  various  peoples  of  the  country,  in  which  he 
left  Hanno  with  10,000  foot  and  1000  horse.  Desertion 
and  other  causes  reduced  his  army,  but  at  the  foot  of  the 
Pyrenees  it  numbered  50,000  foot  and  9000  horse,  all 
steady  and  well-disciplined  soldiers.  Having  passed  these 
mountains,  he  marched  without  delay  for  the  Rhodanus, 
(Rhone,)  on  the  further  bank  of  which  he  found  a  large 
army  of  Gauls  assembled  to  dispute  his  passage.*  He  col- 
lected, and  had  constructed,  a  great  number  of  boats  and 
rafts,  but  it  seemed  too  hazardous  to  attempt  to  pass  a  broad, 
rapid  river  in  the  presence  of  so  large  an  army.  He  there- 
fore sent  at  nightfall  a  division  of  his  troops  under  Hanno 
up  the  river,  with  directions  to  cross  it  a  day's  march  off, 
and  then  to  come  down  the  left  bank  and  take  the  enemy 
in  the  rear.  Hanno  did  as  directed,  and  having  halted  a 
day  on  the  other  side  to  refresh  his  men,  marched  down  the 
stream.  When  he  made  the  fire  signal  agreed  on,  Hannibal, 
who  had  every  thing  ready,  commenced  the  passage.  The 
Gauls  rushed  down  to  oppose  him  ;  but  they  soon  saw  the 

"  Opposite  Beauvaise. 
17* 


198  HISTOBT    OF   ROME. 

camp  behind  them  in  flames,  and  after  a  short  resistance 
turned  and  fled.  The  remainder  of  the  Punic  army  then 
passed  over.* 

Meantime  Scipio,  having  coasted  Etruria  and  Liguria,  on 
liis  way  to  Spain,  was  encamped  at  the  mouth  of  the  Rhone, 
fijur  days'  march  from  the  place  where  Hannibal  was  lying. 
He  sent  forward  a  party  of  horse  to  reconnoitre,  who  fell 
in  with  and  drove  back  five  hundred  Numidian  horse  sent 
out  by  Hannibal  for  the  same  purpose.  When  they  returned, 
and  told  the  consul  where  the  Punic  army  was,  he  embarked 
his  troops,  and  sailed  up  the  river  to  attack  them ;  but  on 
coming  to  the  place  he  found  them  gone.  He  then  returned 
with  all  speed,  and  sending  his  brother  Cn.  Scipio  to  Spain 
with  the  greater  part  of  his  forces,  embarked  for  Pisa  with 
the  remainder  to  meet  the  foe  on  his  descent  from  the  Alps. 

Hannibal,  urged  by  an  embassy  from  the  Boian  Gauls, 
had  resolved  to  lose  no  time  in  advancing  into  Italy.  He 
marched  four  days  up  the  left  bank  of  the  Rhone,  to  its 
junction  with  the  Isara,  (Isere.t)  The  country  between 
these  rivers  was  named  the  Island,  and  two  brothers  were  at 
this  time  contending  for  the  regal  authority  over  it.  Hanni- 
bal sided  with  the  elder,  who  in  return  supplied  him  with 
clothing  and  provisions  for  his  army,  now  38,000  foot  and 
8000  horse,  and  gave  him  an  escort  through  the  country  of 
the  Allobroges  to  the  foot  of  the  Alps. 

Hannibal  went  for  ten  days  about  one  hundred  miles  up 
the  Isara ;  J  he  then  turned  to  the  mountains.  But  here 
difficulties  began  to  assail  him.  The  Gauls  occupied  the 
passes,  but  as  they  did  not  keep  their  plans  secret,  he  learned 
that  they  were  there;  and  also  finding  out  they  only  kept 
guard  by  day,  retiring  to  their  town  by  night,  he  set  out  in 
the  night  with  some  select  troops  and  seized  the  heights 
they  used  to  occupy.     In  the  morning  the  army  set  forward ; 

*  He  adopted  the  following  plan  to  get  the  elephants  over  the  river. 
Broad  rafts  were  attached  to  the  bank,  and  other  rafts  to  these  on  the 
outside,  and  the  whole  covered  with  earth  ;  the  elephants  readily  went 
on  this,  two  females  being  placed  at  their  head.  The  outer  rafts  were 
then  loosed,  and  towed  over  by  boats,  the  elephants  in  general  remain- 
ing quiet  on  them ;  some  however  jumped  into  the  river,  but  they 
were  saved.     (Polyb.  iii.  46.) 

t  Polybius  calls  the  other  river  the  Scoras  or  Scaras  ;.Livy  the  Arar, 
(Saone,)  but  the  confluence  of  the  Rhone  and  Saone  is  too  far  off,  and 
the  land  between  them  does  not  agree  with  Polybius'  description  of  the 
Island. 

t  To  Montmelian  and  Bourgneuf. 


Hannibal's  passage  of  the  alps.  199 

but  the  Gauls  assailed  them  in  the  pass,  where  they  had  to 
proceed  along  a  narrow  path  over  a  deep  ravine,  and  did 
much  mischief,  especially  to  the  horses  and  beasts  of  burden. 
Hannibal,  however,  at  the  head  of  his  select  troops,  drove 
them  ofil  He  then  took  and  plundered  several  villages  and 
their  chief  town.  The  march  now  lay  for  three  days  in  a 
fruitful  valley,  where  there  were  numerous  herds  of  cattle. 
On  the  fourth  day  the  people  who  dwelt  at  the  other  end 
of  the  valley  sent  to  propose  a  peace  with  him,  offering  host- 
ages and  guides.  Hannibal,  though  he  distrusted  them, 
agreed  to  the  treaty,  but  he  prudently  remitted  none  of  his 
precautions.  After  two  days'  march  the  troops  entered  a 
rugged,  precipitous  pass  leading  out  of  the  valley,  and  here 
the  Gauls  had  made  preparations  to  overwhelm  them.  But 
Hannibal  had  wisely  put  the  baggage,  and  horse,  and  ele- 
phants in  advance,  and  kept  his  troops  of  the  line  in  the 
rear,  which  foresight  saved  the  army.  The  loss,  however, 
in  men  and  beasts  was  considerable,  as  the  Gauls  showered 
stones  and  rolled  down  rocks  from  the  heights  above  them. 
Hannibal  was  obliged  to  pass  the  night  separate  from  his 
cavalry.  In  the  morning,  finding  the  Gauls  gone,  the  army 
joined  and  moved  on,  though  still  harassed  by  their  desul- 
tory attacks.  It  was  remarked  that  they  never  assailed  the 
part  of  the  line  of  march  where  the  elephants  were,  as 
the  unusual  appearance  of  these  animals  inspired  them  with 
terror. 

On  the  ninth  day  the  army  reached  the  summit  of  the 
Alps.  Here  they  made  a  halt  of  two  days  to  rest,  and  to 
enable  those  who  had  been  left  behind  to  rejoin.  The  snow 
]lvhich  now  fell,  it  being  late  in  the  autumn,  and  the  prospect 
of  the  further  difficulties  they  would  have  to  encounter,  dis- 
pirited the  troops ;  but  their  leader,  by  pointing  out  to  them 
the  rich  plain  of  the  Po,  and  assuring  them  of  the  facility 
of  conquest,  soon  raised  their  spirits,  and  they  commenced 
the  descent.  Here  however,  though  there  were  no  enemies 
to  attack  them,  the  loss  was  nearly  as  great  as  in  the  ascent. 
The  new-fallen  snow  made  the  path  indiscernible,  and  those 
who  missed  it  rolled  down  the  precipices.  They  still  how- 
ever advanced,  till  they  found  themselves  on  the  edge  of  a 
steep,  which  it  was  plain  the  elephants  and  beasts  of  burden 
could  never  get  down.  Hannibal  tried  to  take  a  round  to 
escape  this  steep  ;  but  the  thin  crust  of  ice  which  had  formed 
on  the  snow  gave  way  under  the  feet  of  the  beasts,  and  held 
them  impounded,  and  even  the  men  could  not  get  along  it. 


200  HISTORY   OF   ROME.    'V 

He  therefore  cleared  away  the  snow  on  the  edge  of  the  steep, 
and  encamped  there  for  the  night.  Next  day  he  set  his  men 
at  work  to  level  a  way  down ;  *  and  they  made  it  that  day 
passable  for  the  horses  and  mules,  which  they  brought  down 
to  the  parts  where  there  was  pasturage ;  but  it  took  three  days 
to  make  a  way  for  the  elephants.  The  descent  now  offered 
no  further  difficulties,  and  the  army  was  soon  encamped  in  the 
country  of  the  Isumbrian  Gauls.t 

Five  months  had  now  elapsed  from  the  day  they  had  set 
out  from  New  Carthage,  fifteen  days  of  which  had  been  oc- 
cupied in  the  passage  of  the  Alps  The  army  had  in  that 
time  been  considerably  reduced  by  its  various  losses,  and  it 
now  numbered  but  26,000  men,  i.  e.  12,000  African  and 
8000  Spanish  foot,  and  6000  horse. 

Having  given  his  army  sufficient  rest,  Hannibal  advanced 
into  the  country  of  the  Ligurian  tribe  of  the  Taurini,  (Pied- 
mont,) whose  capital  he  took  by  storm.  This  struck  terror 
into  the  surrounding  tribes,  and  they  all  joined  the  invaders. 
Hannibal,  finding  that  those  in  the  plains  were  only  withheld 
from  doing  the  same  by  their  fear  of  the  Roman  armies  in 
their  country,  resolved  to  advance  at  once,  and  deliver  them 
from  their  apprehensions. 

Scipio  had  meantime  advanced  from  Pisa,  and  collecting 
what  troops  there  were  in  Etruria  and  Cisalpine  Gaul,  crossed 
the  Po  with  the  intention  of  giving  Hannibal  battle  at  once. 
The  Punic  general  was  equally  anxious  to  fight;  both  armies 
approached  the  river  Ticinus,  (Tessino,)  which  the  Romans 
crossed,  and  came  to  within  five  miles  of  Victumviae,  (Vige- 
vano?)  where  Hannibal  lay.  Next  morning  Scipio  went  out 
to  reconnoitre  with  his  horse  and  light  troops ;  Hannibal  did 
the  same,  and  the  two  parties  met.  An  action  ensued :  the 
consul  put  his  light  troops  and  the  Gallic  horse  in  front,  sup- 
ported by  the  heavy  horse ;  Hannibal  set  his  bridled  horse  j: 

*  According  to  Livy,  Appian,  and  others,  Hannibal,  in  order  to  be 
able  to  cut  down  the  rocks,  had  large  trees  hewn  into  pieces,  and  piled 
around  them,  and  set  fire  to,  and,  when  the  rocks  were  glowing  hot, 
vinegar  poured  on  them,  which  rendered  them  soft  and  easy  to  cut. 
The  truth  of  this  circumstance  (which  is  unnoticed  by  Polybius^  has 
been  disputed  in  modern  times. 

t  Some  critics  make  Hannibal  come  over  the  Great,  others  over  the 
Little  St.  Bernard;  some  are  for  Mt.  Genevre,  the  Simplon,  or  Mt. 
Viso ;  others,  (who  we  incline  to  think  are  right,)  for  Mt.  Cenis. 
According  to  these  last,  his  route  was  Montm^lian,  Malta verne,  Aigue- 
belle.  La  Chapelle,  St.  Jean  de  Maurienne,  St.  Michel,  Modane, 
Verney,  Lans-le-Bourg,  Summit  of  Cenis,  La  Noval^se,  Suse,  St. 
Ambroise,  Rivoli. 

X  The  Numidians  did  not  u)ae  bridles. 


BATTLE    OF    THE   TREBIA.  201 

in  the  centre,  the  Numidians  on  the  flanks.  At  the  first 
shock  the  Roman  light  troops  gave  way  and  fled ;  the  heavy 
horse  maintained  the  conflict  till  the  Numidians  fell  on  their 
rear.  Scipio  himself  received  a  severe  wound,  and  is  said 
to  have  been  indebted  for  his  life  to  his  son,  afterwards  so 
famous,  then  a  youth  of  seventeen.  The  Romans  dispersed 
and  fled  to  their  camp ;  and  Scipio,  now  aware  of  the  enemy's 
great  superiority  in  cavalry,  resolved  to  retire  without  delay 
beyond  the  Po,  where  the  country  was  less  level.  He  reached 
this  river,  and  got  over  before  the  Carthaginians  came  up, 
and  he  also  had  time  to  loosen  the  bridge  of  rafts.  About 
six  hundred  men  who  remained  on  the  other  side  fell  into 
their  hands ;  the  rest  of  the  army  reached  Placentia  in  safety. 
Hannibal  went  two  days'  march  up  the  river,  and  passed  it  in 
a  narrower  place  by  a  bridge  of  boats;  he  then  came  to 
within  six  miles  of  Placentia,  and  offered  battle,  but  to  no 
purpose.  The  Gauls  now  readily  joined  him ;  and  a  body 
of  2000  Gallic  foot  and  200  horse,  who  were  in  the  Roman 
service,  cut  to  pieces  the  guard  at  one  of  the  gates,  and  came 
over  to  him.  Scipio,  thinking  his  position  no  longer  safe, 
led  his  troops  out  in  the  night,  in  order  to  occupy  a  stronger 
one  on  the  hills  about  the  river  Trebia,  where  he  might  wait 
for  the  arrival  of  his  colleague,  who  had  been  recalled  from 
Sicily.  When  Hannibal  found  Scipio  gone,  he  sent  the  Nu- 
midians after  him ;  but  they  fell  to  rummaging  the  deserted 
camp  for  plunder,  and  the  Romans  got  safely  over  the  river, 
and  encamped.  Hannibal  then  came  and  sat  down  about 
five  miles  off",  where  the  Gauls  supplied  him  with  abundance 
of  provisions. 

Sempronius,  on  receiving  his  recall,  embarked  his  troops, 
and  sailed  up  the  Adriatic  to  Ariminum,  where  he  landed, 
and  lost  no  time  in  joining  Scipio  on  the  Trebia.  The  con- 
suls differed  in  opinion  :  Scipio,  who  was  still  disabled  by 
his  wound,  was  for  delay,  which  must  be  injurious  to  the 
enemy,  and  would  probably  cause  the  fickle  Gauls  to  change 
their  minds ;  besides  which  he  himself  when  Recovered  might 
be  of  some  service  to  his  country :  Sempronius  was  for  im- 
mediate action,  as  the  time  of  elections  Was  at  hand,  and 
moreover  the  illness  of  his  colleague  would  afford  him  the 
occasion  of  gaining  the  sole  glory  of  victory.  An  occasion 
of  action  soon  presented  itself 

The  Gauls  who  dwelt  from  the  Trebia  to  the  Po,  wishing 
to  keep  well  with  both  parties,  declared  openly  for  neither. 
Hannibal,  to  punish  them,  sent  a  body  of  2000  foot  and  1000 

z 


^02  HISTORY   OF    POME. 

Numidian  horse  to  plunder  theij:  lands.  They  came  to  the 
Roman  camp  imploring  protection,  and  Sempronius  sent  out 
some  horse  and  light  troops,  who  drove  off  those  of  the 
enemy.  Elate  with  this  success,  he  became  still  more  anxious 
for  battle,  and  Hannibal,  who  wished  for  an  engagement  for 
the  very  same  reasons  that  Scipio  was  opposed  to  it,  prepared 
to  take  advantage  of  Sempronius'  ardor.  Having  observed 
in  the  plain  between  the  two  armies  a  stream  whose  banks 
were  overgrown  by  bushes  and  briers,  he  placed  in  ambush 
in  it  during  the  night  his  brother  Mago  with  1000  foot  and 
as  many  horse,  and  in  th6  morning  he  sent  the  Numidian 
horse  over  the  Trebia  to  ride  up  to  the  enemy's  camp  and 
try  to  draw  them  out ;  he  meantime  ordered  the  rest  of  the 
army  to  take  their  breakfast,  and  get  themselves  and  their 
horses  ready.  ^ 

Sempronius,  when  he  saw  the  Numidians,  sent  his  horse  to 
drive  them  off ;  his  light  troops  followed,  and  he  then  led  out 
the  rest  of  the  army.  It  was  now  midwinter,  the  day  was 
bitterly  cold  and  snowy,  and  the  troops  had  not  had  their 
breakfast ;  the  Trebia  was  swollen  by  the  rain  that  had  fallen, 
and  it  was  breast  high  on  the  infantry  as  they  waded  through 
it.  Cold  and  hungry,  they  advanced  to  engage  an  army  that 
was  fresh  and  vigorous,  for  Hannibal  had  directed  his  men  to 
anoint  and  arm  themselves  by  the  fire  in  their  tents.  When 
he  saw  the  Romans  over  the  river,  he  led  out  his  troops,  and 
drew  them  up  about  a  mile  from  his  camp.  His  advance 
guard  consisted  of  8000  dartmen  and  Balearic  slingers;  he 
drew  up  his  heavy  infantry,  Africans,  Spaniards,  and  Gauls, 
about  20,000  in  one  line,  with  10,000  horse,  one  half  on 
each  wing,  and  the  elephants  in  front  of  the  wings.  Sem- 
pronius drew  up  his  army  of  16,000  Romans  and  20,000 
allies  in  the  usual  manner :  he  placed  his  horse  (about  4000) 
on  the  wings.  The  Roman  light  troops  being  already  fa- 
tigued, and  having  spent  their  weapons  in  the  pursuit  of  the 
Numidians,  were  easily  beaten;  and  while  the  troops  of  the 
line  were  engaged,  the  Punic  horse  charged  and  scattered 
that  of  the  Romans ;  the  light  troops  and  Numidians  then 
advanced  and  fell  on  the  flanks  of  the  Roman  line;  the 
troops  in  ambush  rose  at  the  same  time,  and  attacked  them 
in  the  rear.  The  Roman  wings,  assailed  in  front  by  the 
elephants  and  in  flank  by  the  light  troops,  gave  way  and  fled  ; 
the  centre,  about  ten  thousand  men,  drove  back  the  Punic 
troops  in  front  of  it,  but  it  suffered  from  those  in  its  rear. 
At  length,  seeing  their  wings  driven  off  the  field,  and  fearing 


HANNIBAL    ENTERS    ETRURIA.  203 

the  number  of  the  enemy's  horse  if  they  attempted  to  aid 
them,  or  to  recross  the  river  to  their  camp,  they  made  a 
desperate  effort,  and  breaking  through  the  adverse  line  forced 
their  way  to  Placentia.  Most  of  the  remainder  were  de- 
stroyed at  the  river  by  the  horse  and  the  elephants ;  those 
who  escaped  made  their  way  to  Placentia.  The  victors  did 
not  venture  to  cross  the  river:  all  their  elephants  but  one 
died  in  consequence  of  the  extreme  cold  and  wet.  Scipio 
the  next  night  led  the  troops  in  the  camp  over  the  Trebia  to 
Placentia,  and  thence  to  Cremona. 

Sempronius  sent  word  to  Rome  that  but  for  the  weather 
be  should  have  obtained  a  complete  victory.  The  truth, 
however,  was  not  to  be  concealed  ;  but  the  Roman  spirit  only 
rose  the  more  in  adversity.  Cn.  Servilius  and  C.  Flaminius  * 
were  created  consuls,  Sempronius  having  gone  to  Rome  to 
hold  the  elections. 

Hannibal,  having  made  an  ineffectual  attempt  on  a  maga- 
zine near  Placentia,  and  taken  Victumviae,  gave  his  troops 
some  repose.  Early  in  the  spring  (535)  he  attempted  to 
cross  the  Apennines ;  but  a  violent  storm  of  thunder,  hail, 
wind  and  rain,  forced  him  to  give  over  his  project.  He  then 
gave  Sempronius  a  second  defeat  near  Placentia,  after  which 
he  led  his  troops  into  Liguria.  Flaminius  went  to  his  prov- 
ince in  the  spring,  and  having  received  four  legions,  two 
from  Sempronius  and  two  from  the  prjetor  Atilius,  crossed 
the  Apennines  and  encamped  at  Arretium,  (Arezzo.)  Hanni- 
bal, finding  the  Gauls  so  discontented  atliis  remaining  in  their 
country  that  he  was  obliged  to  change  his  dress  frequently, 
and  to  wear  various  wigs  in  order  to  escape  their  attempts  on 
his  life,  resolved  to  enter  Etruria  without  delay.  Of  the 
various  routes  into  that  country  he  fixed  on  that  through  the 
marshes  formed  by  the  river  Arno,t  as  he  could  thus  elude 
the  Roman  consul.  He  placed  his  African  and  Spanish  in- 
fantry with  the  baggage  in  advance ;  these  were  followed  by 
the  Gauls,  and  last  came  the  horse.  He  himself  rode  on  his 
only  remaining  elephant.  For  four  days  and  three  nights 
they  had  to  march  through  the  water,  enduring  every  kind 
of  hardship.  Most  of  the  beasts  of  burden  perished,  several 
of  the  horses  lost  their  hoofs,  and  Hannibal  himself  lost  the 
sight  of  one  of  his  eyes. 

*  This  was  the  Flaminius  who  had  caused  the  Gallic  war.  See 
above,  p.  192. 

t  Livy,  xxii.  2.  They  were  on  the  right  bank  of  the  Lower  Amo. 
(Nieb.  i.  128.)  Micali  and  some  other  moderna  maintain  that  they  were 
the  marshes  formed  by  the  Upper  Po. 


204  HISTORY    OF    ROME. 

Having  learned  the  character  of  the  Roman  consul,  a  vain, 
rash  man,  utterly  unskilled  in  military  affairs,  Hannibal  re- 
solved to  provoke  him  to  a  battle  before  the  arrival  of  his  col* 
league.  He  therefore  proceeded  to  lay  waste  the  fruitful 
country  between  FaesulaB  and  Arretium.  The  sight  of  the 
devastations  he  committed  enraged  Flaminius,  and  he  would 
not  be  withheld  by  his  officers  from  giving  battle.  Hannibal 
had  now  reached  the  vicinity  of  Cortona,  and  when  he  found 
that  Flaminius  was  following  him,  he  prepared  to  select  the 
most  advantageous  position  for  engaging.  He  therefore  ad- 
vanced, with  the  hills  of  Cortona  on  his  left,  the  Trasimene 
lake  on  his  right,  till  he  came  to  a  spot  where  the  hills 
approach  the  lake,  leaving  a  narrow  path,  and  then  recede, 
forming  a  valley  closed  at  the  end  by  an  eminence.  He 
stationed  his  line-troops  at  the  further  end  of  this  valley, 
placing  his  light  troops  on  the  hills  on  the  right  side  of  it, 
and  his  horse  and  the  Gauls  on  those  on  the  left.  He  thus 
awaited  Flaminius,  who  arriving  in  the  evening,  encamped 
on  the  lake  without  the  pass,  into  which  he  led  his  troops 
early  the  next  morning.  A  dense  fog  happening  to  rise  and 
spread  over  the  valley  concealed  the  enemy  from  the  view 
of  the  Romans;  the  head  of  their. column  had  just  reached 
the  place  where  the  Punic  troops  awaited  them,  when  Han- 
nibaJ  gave  the  signal  for  attack,  and  they  were  assailed  at 
once  in  front  and  flank.  Not  having  time  to  form,  they  were 
cut  down  in  their  line  of  march.  Flaminius  himself  was 
killed  by  the  Gauls  early  in  the  action.  Numbers  ran  up  to 
their  necks  in  the  water;  but  the  enemy's  horse  charged 
after  them  and  cut  them  to  pieces.*  The  number  of  the 
slain  was  15000 ;  a  body  of  6000  broke  through  in  front,  and 
made  their  way  over  the  hills  to  a  neighboring  village, 
whither  they  were  pursued  by  Maharbal.  and  forced  to  sur- 
render, on  promise  of  being  allowed  to  depart  without  their 
arms ;  but  Hannibal,  denying  the  right  of  Maharbal  to  grant 
these  terms,  assembled  all  his  prisoners,  to  the  number  of 
upwards  of  15,000,  and  separating  the  Romans,  whom  he  re- 
tained, he  dismissed  the  allies,  declaring,  as  was  his  wont, 
that  he  was  come  as  the  deliverer  of  Italy  from  Roman 
tyranny.     His   own   loss   was   about  fifteen  hundred   men, 

*  According  to  Livy  (xxii.  5)  and  Zonaras  (viii.  125,)  the  ardor  of 
the  combatants  was  such  that  they  did  not  perceive  the  shock  of  an 
earthquake  which  occurred  at  that  time,  and  threw  down  large  portions 
of  several  towns,  sank  mountains,  and  turned  rivers  from  their  coarse. 
Of  this  Polybius  says  nothing. 


HANNIBAL    AND    FABIUS    CUNCTATOR.  205 

chiefly  Gauls,  on  whom  he  generally  contrived  to  make  the 
loss  fall  most  heavily. 

This  defeat  was  of  too  great  a  magnitude  for  the  govern- 
ment at  Rome  to  be  able  to  conceal  or  extenuate  it.  In  the 
evening  of  the  day  the  news  arrived,  the  prsstor  mounted  the 
Rostra  and  said  aloud,  "  We  have  been  overcome  in  a  great 
battle."  The  people,  unused  to  tidings  of  defeat,  were  quite 
overwhelmed ;  but  the  senate  remained  calm  and  resolute 
as  ever  in  adversity.  Soon  after,  another  piece  of  ill  news 
arrived ;  a  body  of  four  thousand  horse,  which  the  consul 
Servilius  had  sent  on  from  Ariminum,  were  cut  to  pieces  or 
forced  to  surrender  by  the  Punic  horse  and  light  troops.  It 
was  now  resolved  to  revive  the  dictatorship,  an  office  for  some 
time  out  of  use,  and  Q,.  Fabius  Maximus  was  appointed,* 
with  M.  Minucius  for  his  master  of  the  horse. 

Hannibal  marched  through  Umbria  and  Picenum,  wasting 
and  destroying  the  country  on  his  way.  On  reaching  the 
sea  he  sent  home  word  of  his  successes ;  and  having  halted 
some  time,  to  give  his  men  and  horses  rest,  he  advanced 
through  the  country  of  the  Marsian  League  into  Apulia. 
The  dictator,  having  received  the  two  legions  of  the  consul 
Servilius,  and  added  two  newly  raised  ones  to  them,  ad- 
vanced with  all  speed  to  Apulia,  and  encamped  in  presence 
of  Hannibal  near  Arpi.  The  Punic  general  vainly  offered 
battle  ;  it  was  the  plan  of  Fabius,  thence  named  the  Delayer, 
(Cunctator,)  to  give  him  no  opportunity  of  fighting,  but  to 
wear  him  out  by  delay.  He  accordingly  kept  on  the  hills 
above  him,  followed  him  whithersoever  he  went,  made  partial 
attacks  under  advantageous  circumstances,  and  thus  raised 
the  spirit  and  confidence  of  his  troops.  Hannibal,  having 
exhausted  Apulia,  entered  Samnium,  where  he  plundered 
the  district  of  Beneventum  and  took  the  town  of  Telesia, 
Fabius  still  following  him  at  a  distance  of  one  or  two  days' 
march,  but  giving  no  opportunity  for  fighting.  It  is  re- 
markable, that  though  the  Romans  had  suffered  such  defeats, 
not  one  of  their  allies  had  as  yet  fallen  off,  Hannibal  hoped 
that  by  an  irruption  into  Campania  he  should  be  able  to 
force  Fabius  to  give  battle,  or  if  he  did  not,  that  this  con- 
fession of  the  inferiority  of  the  Romans  in  the  field  would 
have  its  due  effect  on  the  minds  of  the  allies.  He  there- 
fore marched  by  Allifae  and  Cales  to  Casilinum,  wasted  the 

*  As  there  was  no  consul  at  Rome  to  nominate  him,  he  was  created 
Pro-dictator. 

18 


206  HISTORY   OF   ROME. 

Falernian  district  to  Sinuessa,  and  encamped  on  the  Vul- 
turnus.  Fabius  moved  along  the  Massic  hills ;  but  neither 
the  sight  of  the  burning  villages  in  the  valley  beneath,  nor 
the  reproaches  and  entreaties  of  Minucius  and  the  other  offi- 
cers, could  induce  him  to  change  his  system  and  descend 
into  the  plain. 

Hannibal,  seeing  there  was  no  chance  of  a  battle,  pre- 
pared to  retire,  by  the  way  he  came,  into  quarters  for  the 
winter.  Fabius  hoped  now  to  take  him  at  an  advantage : 
having  placed  a  sufficient  force  to  guard  the  pass  near  Tar- 
racina,*  he  occupied  the  town  of  Casilinum  and  the  hill  of 
Callicula,  and  posted  his  army  on  an  eminence  on  the  road 
by  which  the  enemy  must  move  for  the  pass.  Hannibal, 
seeing  the  way  thus  impeded,  and  despairing  of  being  able 
to  force  it,  had  recourse  to  stratagem.  He  had  two  thou- 
sand of  the  strongest  oxen  in  the  booty  collected,  and  bun- 
dles of  brushwood  tied  on  their  horns.  In  the  latter  part 
of  the  night,  he  directed  the  baggage-drivers  to  set  fire  to 
these  bundles,  and  drive  the  oxen  up  the  hill  close  to  the 
pass ;  and  the  light  troops  to  hasten  and  occupy  its  summit. 
The  oxen,  infuriated  by  the  heat  and  flame,  ran  wildly  up 
the  hill ;  the  Romans,  who  guarded  the  pass,  thinking  from 
the  number  of  lights  that  the  enemy  was  escaping  that  way, 
made  all  the  speed  they  could  to  occupy  the  summit ;  but 
they  found  the  Punic  light  troops  there  already ;  both  re- 
mained inactive  waiting  for  the  daylight.  Hannibal  mean- 
time had  led  the  rest  of  his  army  through  the  pass,  and  he 
sent  some  Spanish  troops,  who  speedily  routed  the  Romans 
on  the  hill.  He  then  marched  leisurely  through  Samnium 
into  Apulia,  where  he  took  the  town  of  Geronium,  before 
which  he  pitched  his  camp ;  Fabius,  who  followed  him,  en- 
camped at  Larinum. 

The  dictator,  being  obliged  to  return  to  Rome  on  some 
religious  affairs,  committed  the  command  of  the  army  to  the 
master  of  the  horse,  imploring  him  on  no  account  to  give 
battle.  But  Minucius  little  heeded  these  admonitions ;  he 
quitted  the  hills  where  he  was  posted,  and  came  nearer  to 
the  Punic  camp ;  and  he  had  the  advantage  in  some  slight 
actions  which  ensued.  These  successes  were  greatly  mag- 
nified at  Rome  ;  and  the  people,  who  were  weary  of  the  sal- 
utary caution  of  Fabius,  were  induced  to  pass  a  decree  for 
making  the  authority  of  the  master  of  the  horse  equal  with 

*  Probably  the  pass  of  Lautulaa.     See  above,  p.  134. 


HANNIBAL    AND    FABIUS    CUNCTATOR.  207 

that  of  the  dictator.  Fabius,  who  had  returned  to  the  army, 
ipade  no  complaint ;  he  divided  the  troops  with  Minucius, 
and  they  formed  two  separate  camps,  about  a  mile  and  a 
half  asunder. 

Hannibal,  who  was  informed  of  all  that  occurred,  hoped 
now  to  be  able  to  take  advantage  of  Minucius's  impetuosity. 
There  was  a  valley  between  their  camps,  in  which,  though  it 
contained  no  bushes  suited  for  an  ambuscade,  there  were 
sundry  hollows  where  troops  might  lie  concealed,  and  in 
these  he  placed  during  the  night  five  hundred  horse  and  five 
thousand  foot;  and  that  they  might  not  be  discovered  by 
the  Roman  foragers,  he  sent  at  dawn  some  light  troops  to 
occupy  an  eminence  in  the  middle  of  the  plain.  Minucius, 
as  soon  as  he  saw  these  troops,  directed  his  light  troops  to 
advance  and  drive  them  off;  he  then  sent  his  horse,  and 
finally  led  out  his  heavy  infantry.  Hannibal  kept  sending  ^^^-^ 
aid  to  his  men,  and  meantime  led  on  his  horse  and  heavy  i^Hk 
foot.  His  horse  drove  the  Roman  light  troops  back  on  tho§e  ^^^ 
of  the  line,  and  he  then  gave  the  signal  to  those  in  ambush 
to  rise;  the  Romans  were  now  on  the  very  verge  of  a  total 
defeat,  when  Fabius  led  his  troops  to  their  relief  Hanni- 
bal, when  he  saw  the  good  order  of  the  dictator's  army,  drew 
off  his  men,  fearing  to  hazard  an  action  with  fresh  troops. 
As  he  retired,  he  observed  that  the  cloud  which  had  lain  so 
long  on  the  tops  of  the  mountains  had  at  last  come  down 
in  rain  and  tempest.  Minucius  candidly  acknowledged  his 
fault  and  the  superior  wisdom  of  the  dictator,  and  the  whole 
army  encamped  together  again. 

The  winter  passed  away,  only  marked  by  some  slight 
skirmishes.  At  Rome,  when  the  time  of  the  elections  came, 
the  consuls  chosen  were  C.  Terentius  Varro,  a  plebeian,* 
and  L.  JEmilius  Paullus,  a  patrician.  Instead  of  the  usual 
number  of  four  legions,  eight  were  now  raised,  each  of  five 
thousand  foot  and  three  hundred  horse,  and  the  allies  gave 
as  usual  an  equal  number  of  foot  and  thrice  as  many  horse. 
King  Hiero  sent  a  large  supply  of  corn,  and  one  thousand 
slingers  and  Cretan  archers. 

As  soon  as  the  season  for  the  ripening  of  the  corn  ap- 
proached, (536,)  Hannibal  moved  and  occupied  the  citadel 

*  From  Livy's  account  of  Varro,  we  are  to  suppose  that  he  was  a  vul- 
gat,  low-born  demagogue.  He  says  (xxii.  25)  that  he  was  the  son  of  a 
■butcher ;  yet  we  find  him  continued  in  command  for  some  years  after, 
his  defeat,  which  can  hardly  be  ascribed  to  mere  popular  favor. 


208  HISTORY   OF   ROME. 

of  a  town  named  Cannse,  where  the  Romans  had  their  mag- 
azines. The  consuls  of  the  former  year,  who  commanded 
the  army  in  these  parts,  finding  tHeir  situation  hazardous, 
and  the  allies  inclined  to  revolt,  sent  to  Rome  for  instruc- 
tions, and  it  was  resolved  that  battle  should  be  given  without 
delay,  ^milius  and  Terentius  set  out  from  Rome  with  the 
new-raised  troops,  and  their  whole  united  force  amounted 
to  eighty-seven  thousand  horse  and  foot.  Fabius  and  other 
prudent  men,  placing  their  only  reliance  on  JEmilius,  who 
had  distinguished  himself  in  the  Illyrian  wars,  anxiously  im- 
pressed on  him  the  necessity  of  caution,  and  of  restraining 
his  vain  and  ignorant  colleague,  as  this  army  might  be  in  a 
great  measure  regarded  as  Rome's  last  stake. 

As  Hannibal  was  greatly  superior  in  cavalry,  it  was  the 
advice  of  ^milius  not  to  risk  an  action  in  the  plain ;  but 
Varro,  ignorant  and  confident,  on  his  day  of  command  (for 
the  Roman  consuls  when  together  took  it  day  and  day 
about)  led  the  army  nearer  to  where  the  enemy  lay.  Han- 
nibal attacked  the  line  of  march,  but  was  driven  off  with 
some  loss ;  and  next  day  ^Emilius,  not  wishing  to  fight,  and 
unable  to  fall  back  with  safety,  encamped  on  the  Aufidus, 
placing  a  part  of  the  army  on  the  other  side  of  the  river,  a 
little  more  than  a  mile  in  advance  of  his  camp,  and  equally 
distant  from  that  of  Hannibal,  to  protect  his  own  and  annoy 
the  enemy's  foragers.  Hannibal,  having  explained  to  his 
troops  the  advantages  to  be  derived  from  an  immediate 
action,  led  them  over  the  river  and  encamped  on  the  same 
side  with  the  main  army  of  the  Romans,  and  on  the  second 
day  he  offered  battle,  which  ^milius  prudently  declined. 
He  then  sent  the  Numidians  across  the  river  to  attack  those 
who  were  watering  from  the  lesser  camp.  The  patience  of 
Varro  was  now  exhausted,  and  next  day  at  sunrise  he  led 
his  troops  over  the  river,  and  joining  with  them  those  in  the 
lesser  camp  drew  them  up  in  order  of  battle.  The  line  faced 
the  south ;  *  the  Roman  horse  were  on  the  right  wing  by 
the  river  side ;  the  troops  of  the  line,  drawn  up  deeper 
than  usual,  extended  thence;  the  horse  of  the  allies  were 
on  the  left  wing,  the  light  troops  in  advance  of  the  line. 
Hannibal,  having  first  sent  over  his  light  troops,  led  his 
army  also  to  the  other  side  of  the  river.     He  set  his  Spanish 

*  Livy  says  that  the  arid  wind,  named  the  Vulturnus,  blew  clouds  of 
dust  in  the  faces  of  the  Romans.  This  is  not  noticed  bv  Polybius,  and 
if  it  was  the  case  it  was  probably  the  fault  of  Varro,  not  the  skill  of  Han- 
nibal, as  some  suppose,  that  placed  them  in  this  position. 


BATTLE    OF    CANN^.  209 

and  Gallic  horse  on  his  left  wing,  opposite  that  of  the 
Romans;  then  one  half  of  his  heavy  African  infantry;* 
next,  the  Spaniards  and  Gauls ,  after  them  the  rest  of  the 
African  foot,  and  on  the  right  wing  the  Numidian  horse. 
When  his  line  had  been  thus  formed,  he  put  forward  the 
centre  sO  as  to  give  the  whole  the  form  of  a  half-moon.  His 
whole  force,  inclusive  of  the  Gauls,  did  not  much  exceed 
40,000  foot  and  10,000  horse,  while  that  of  the  Romans 
was  80,000  foot  and  about  6000  horse.  On  the  one  side, 
JEmilius  commanded  the  right,  Varro  the  left  wing,  the 
late  consul  Servilius  the  centre;  on  the  other,  Hanno  led 
the  right,  Hasdrubal  the  left  wing,  Hannibal  himself  the 
centre. 

The  battle  was  begun,  as  usual,  by  the  light  troops;  the 
Spanish  and  Gallic  horse  then  charged  ;  the  Roman  horse, 
after  a  valiant  resistance,  overborne  by  numbers,  broke  and 
fled  along  the  river;  the  light  troops  having  fallen  back  on 
the  heavy-armed  on  both  sides,  these  engaged  :  the  Gauls 
and  Spaniards  who  formed  the  top  of  the  half-moon,  being 
borne  down  by  the  weight  of  the  Roman  maniples,  gave 
way  after  a  brief  but  gallant  resistance.  The  victors  heed- 
lessly pressing  on,  the  African  foot  on  either  side  wheeled 
to  the  right  and  left,  and  surrounded  them,  ^milius,  who 
had  commanded  on  the  right,  now  came  with  a  party  of 
horse  to  the  centre  and  took  the  command ;  here  he  was 
opposed  to  Hannibal  himself  The  Numidians  meantime 
kept  the  horse  of  the  allies  engaged  ;  till  Hasdrubal,  having 
cut  to  pieces  the  Roman  horse  which  he  had  pursued,  came 
to  their  aid  :  the  allies  then  turned  and  fled  ;  Hasdrubal, 
leaving  the  Numidians  to  pursue  them,  fell  with  his  heavy 
horse  on  the  rear  of  the  Roman  infantry.  iEmilius  fell 
bravely  fighting;  that  part  of  the  Ron^an  infantry  which 
was  surrounded  was  slaughtered  to  the  last  man ;  the  rest 
of  the  infantry  was  massacred  on  all  sides ;  the  Numidians 
cut  to  pieces  the  horse  of  the  allies.  The  consul  Varro 
escaped  to  Venusia  with  only  seventy  horse.  A  body  of 
ten  thousand  foot,  whom  iEmilius  had  left  to  guard  the 
camp,  fell  during  the  battle  on  that  of  Hannibal,  which 
they  were  near  taking ;  but  Hannibal,  coming  up  after  the 
battle,  drove  them  back  to  their  own  camp  with  a  loss  of 
two  thousand  men,  and  there  forced  them  to  surrender. 

*  Hannibal  had  armed  his  African  and  Spanish  infantry  after  the 
Roman  manner,  with  the  Roman  arms  which  had  fallen  into  his  hands. 
18*  AA 


210  HISTORY    OF    ROME. 

This  was  the  greatest  defeat  the  Roman  arms  ever  sus- 
tained. Out  of  80,000  foot,  according  to  Polybius,  only 
3000  escaped,  and  10,000  were  made  prisoners ;  of  6000 
horse  there  remained  but  370  at  liberty,  2000  were  taken. 
Amon§  the  slain  were  two  quaestors ;  twenty-one  tribunes ; 
several  former  consuls,  praetors,  and  aediles,  among  whom 
were  the  consul  iEmilius,  the  late  consul  Servilius,  and  the 
late  master  of  the  horse  Minucius;  and  eighty  senators,  or 
those  who  were  entitled  to  a  seat  in  the  senate.  The  loss 
of  the  enemy  was  4000  Gauls,  1500  Spaniards  and  Africans, 
and  about  200  horse. 

A  part  of  the  Roman  troops,  who  escaped  to  Canusium, 
put  themselves  there  under  the  command  of  Ap.  Claudius 
and  P.  Cornelius  Scipio,  who  were  military  tribunes ;  and 
as  these  were  consulting  with  some  of  the  other  officers, 
word  came  that  L.  Csecilius  Metellus  and  some  other  young 
noblemen  were  planning  to  fly  to  the  court  of  some  foreign 
prince,  utterly  despairing  of  their  country.  Scipio  rose, 
and  followed  by  the  rest  went  to  the  lodgings  of  Metellus, 
where  the  traitors  were  assembled  :  and  there  drawing  his 
sword  made  them,  under  terror  of  death,  swear  never  to  de- 
sert their  country.* 

When  tidings  of  this  unexampled  defeat  reached  Rome, 
the  consternation  was  such  as  cannot  be  described.  Grief 
and  female  lamentation  was  every  where  to  be  heard,  but 
the  magnanimity  of  the  senate  remained  unshaken.  By  the 
advice  of  Fabius  Maximus,  measures  were  taken  for  pre- 
serving tranquillity  in  the  city,  and  ascertaining  the  position 
and  designs  of  the  victorious  and  the  condition  of  the  van- 
quished army.  On  account  of  the  number  of  the  slain,  a 
general  mourning  for  thirty  days  was  appointed,  and  all 
public  and  private  religious  rites  were  suspended  ;  d.  Fabius 
Pictor  t  was  sent  to  inquire  of  the  god  at  Delphi ;  the  Fatal 
Books  were  consulted,  and  by  their  injunction  a  Greek  man 
and  woman  and  a  Gallic  man  and  woman  were  buried  alive 
in  the  Ox-market.  Measures  being  thus  taken  to  appease 
the  wrath  of  Heaven,  they  proceeded  to  employ  the  means 
of  defence.  C.  Claudius  Marcellus,  the  propraetor,  was  sent 
to  take  the  command  at  Canusium,  where  about  ten  thousand 

*  Liv.  xxii.  53.  The  censors  of  the  year  538  deprived  Metellus  and 
his  companions  of  their  horses,  and  made  them  aerarians,  on  account 
of  their  conduct  on  this  occasion. 

t  This  is  the  earliest  Roman  historian. 


PROGRESS  OF  HANNIBAL.  211 

men  were  now  assembled.  M.  Junius  was  made  dictator, 
and  by  enrolling  all  above  and  some  under  seventeen  years 
of  age^  four  legions  and  one  thousand  horse  were  raised; 
eight  thousand  able-bodied  slaves  were,  with  their  own  con- 
sent, purchased  from  their  masters  and  enrolled  in  the  le- 
gions ;  the  arms,  the  spoils  of  former  wars,  which  hung  in 
the  temples  and  porticoes,  were  now  taken  down  and  used. 

It  was  apprehended  at  Rome  that  Hannibal  might  march 
at  once  for  the  city,  and  it  is  said  that  Maharbal  had  urged 
him  to  do  so,  and,  on  his  hesitating,  told  him  that  he  knew  how 
to  conquer,  but  not  to  use  his  victory.  But  the  able  general 
knew  too  well  the  small  chance  of  success  in  such  an  attempt, 
and  was  well  aware  of  how  much  more  importance  it  was  to 
try  to  detach  the  allies  of  Rome ;  and  in  this  he  soon  had 
abundant  success.  The  Samnites,  Lucanians,  Bruttians, 
most  of  the  Greek  towns,  great  part  of  Apulia  and  Campania, 
and  all  Cisalpine  Gaul  turned  against  Rome,  whose  power 
was  now  thought  to  be  at  an  end. 

Yet  never  was  Rome's  steadfastness  greater  than  at  the 
present  moment.  Hannibal,  being  in  want  of  money,  offered 
his  Roman  prisoners  their  liberty  at  a  moderate  ransom. 
Ten  of  them  were  sent  to  Rome,  with  Carthalo,  a  Punic 
ojfiicer,  to  consult  the  senate,  on  their  oath  to  return.  When 
they  drew  nigh  to  Rome,  a  lictor  metCarthalo,ordering  him  off 
the  Roman  territory  before  night ;  the  senate,  though  assailed 
by  the  tears  and  prayers  of  the  families  of  the  captives,  were 
swayed  by  the  stern,  rigid  sentiments  of  T.  Manlius  Torqua- 
tus,  and  replied  that  they  should  not  be  redeemed.  One  of 
the  envoys  had,  when  leaving  the  Punic  camp,  returned  to 
it  on  some  pretext,  and  thinking,  or  affecting  to  think,  him- 
self thereby  released  from  his  oath,  remained  at  Rome ;  but 
the  senate  had  him  taken  and  sent  back  to  Hannibal.  When 
Terentius  Varro  returned  to  Rome,  all  orders  went  out  to 
meet  him,  and  thanked  him  for  not  having  despaired  of  the 
republic.  How  different,  as  Livy  remarks,  would  have  been 
the  reception  of  a  defeated  Punic  general ! 

Hannibal,  having  entered  Samnium,  and  made  himself 
master  of  the  town  of  Compsa,  advanced  to  Campania,  where 
the  popular  party  in  Capua,  under  the  guidance  of  a  dema- 
gogue of  noble  birth,  named  Pacuvius  Calavius,  had  made 
an  alliance  with  him,  and  took  up  his  quarters  in  that  luxu- 
rious city.  About  this  time  he  despatched  his  brother  Mago 
to  Carthage,  with  an  account  of  his  successes  and  a  demand 
of  men,  money,  and  supplies.     Mago,  it  is  said,  emptied  out 


2^12  HISTORY   OF   ROME. 

before  the  senate  a  bushel  full  of  gold  rings,  the  ornament  of 
the  equestrian  order  at  Rome,  to  prove  the  magnitude  of  the 
losses  of  the  Romans;  but  Hanno  and  the  anti-Barcine* 
party  still  opposed  the  war,  and  advised  to  seek  peace.  The 
opposite  party,  however,  prevailed ;  it  was  voted  to  send  him 
4000  Numidians,  40  elephants,  and  a  large  sum  of  money  ; 
and  Mago  and  another  officer  were  sent  to  Spain  to  hire  a 
body  of  20,000  foot  and  4000  horse. 


CHAPTER  IV. 

HANNIBAL     IN     CAMPANIA. DEFEAT     OF    POSTUMIUS. AF- 
FAIRS    OF     SPAIN. TREATY      BETWEEN      HANNIBAL     AND 

KING  PHILIP. HANNIBAL  REPULSED  AT    NOLA. SUCCESS 

OF    HANNO     IN     BRUTTIUM. AFFAIRS     OF     SARDINIA, OF 

SPAIN, OF    SICILY. ELECTIONS     AT    ROME. DEFEAT 

OF    HANNO. SIEGE     OF     SYRACUSE.  AFFAIRS     OF    SPAIN 

AND     AFRICA. TAKING     OF     TARENTUM.  SUCCESSES    OP 

HANNIBAL. 

In  the  city  of  Nola,  as  at  Capua,  the  popular  party  was 
adverse,  the  aristocratic  favorable,  to  the  cause  of  Rome. 
Hannibal,  therefore,  hoping  to  get  this  town  as  he  had  gotten 
Capua,  led  his  troops  into  its  territory.  The  Nolan  senate 
instantly  sent  off  to  the  praetor  Marcellus,f  who  was  at  Casil- 
inum  with  an  army,  and  he  immediately  set  out,  and  keeping 
mostly  to  the  hills,  reached  the  town ;  Hannibal  having  just 
departed  to  make  an  effort  to  gain  Neapolis,  for  he  was  ex- 
tremely anxious  to  get  possession  of  a  good  seaport  on  this 
coast.  Failing,  however,  in  his  attempt,  he  went  to  Nuceria, 
which  he  forced  to  surrender ;  and  he  then  returned  and  en- 
camped before  the  gates  of  Nola  ;  Marcellus,  fearing  treach- 
ery on  the  part  of  the  people,  retired  into  the  town.  Each 
day  the  two  armies  were  drawn  out,  and  slight  skirmishes, 
but  no  general  action,  took  place.  At  length  the  senators 
gave  Marcellus  information  of  a  plot  to  shut  the  gates  behind 
him  when  he  had  led  his  army  out,  and  to  admit  the  enemy. 

*  The  party  who  supported  Hannibal  at  Carthage  was  named  Bar- 
cine,  from  his  father's  epithet  Barcas. 
f  The  conqueror  of  the  Gauls.    See  above,  p.  194. 


HANNl^AL  ilf    CAArPAi5/lA.  ^1.^ 

He  therefore  next  day,  instead  of  leading  out  his  forces  as 
usual,  stationed  them  within  the  town ;  the  legionaries  and 
Roman  horse  at  the  middle  gate,  the  recruits,  the  light 
troops,  and  the  allies'  horse  at  the  two  side  ones ;  and  he 
gave  strict  orders  for  no  one  to  appear  on  the  walls.  Han- 
nibal, when  he  drew  out  his  army  as  usual  and  saw  no  one 
to  oppose  him,  judged  at  once  that  the  plot  was  discovered, 
and  he  resolved  to  attempt  a  storm,  in  reliance  on  a  rising 
of  the  people  in  his  favor.  Having  sent  a  part  of  his  troops 
back  to  the  camp  for  ladders  and  the  other  requisite  imple- 
ments, he  led  his  army  up  to  the  walls.  Suddenly  the  gates 
all  opened,  the  trumpets  sounded,  the  Roman  army  rushed 
out  on  all  sides,  and  he  was  forced  to  retire  with  a  consid- 
erable loss.  Marcellus  then  closed  the  gates  again,  and 
having  instituted  an  inquiry,  put  to  death  seventy  persons 
whose  guilt  was  proved. 

Hannibal,  having  retired  from  Nola,  went  and  laid  siege  to 
Acerrae,  the  people  of  which  town,  despairing  of  being  able 
to  defend  it,  fled  from  it  in  the  night.  He  then  advanced 
and  laid  siege  to  Casilinum,  which  was  gallantly  defended 
by  a  small  but  resolute  garrison;  and  finding  he  had  no 
chance  of  taking  it,  he  led  off  his  army  to  winter  at  Capua. 
Here,  as  was  to  be  expected,  his  troops  indulged  in  all  kinds 
of  luxury  and  debauchery ;  and  ignorant,  rhetorical  writers, 
who  could  not  discern  the  real  causes  of  the  subsequent  de- 
cline of  Hannibal's  power,  ascribe  it  to  this  wintering  in 
Capua. 

When  the  weather  grew  milder,  Hannibal  again  invested 
Casilinum.  The  dictator  Junius  was  at  hand  with  an  army 
of  twenty-five  thousand  men,  but  he  was  obliged  to  go  to 
Rome  on  account  of  the  auspices,  and  he  charged  his  master 
of  the  horse,  Tib.  Sempronius  Gracchus,  not  to  attempt  any 
thing  during  his  absence.  Gracchus,  therefore,  though  the 
garrison  were  suffering  the  extremes  of  famine,  could  not 
attempt  to  convey  them  supplies.  All  he  could  do  was  to 
send  barrels  filled  with  corn  down  the  stream  by  night,  which 
the  people  watched  for  and  stopped  ;  quantities  of  nuts  were 
in  like  manner  floated  down  to  them.  Unfortunately  the 
Vulturnus  happening  to  be  swollen  one  night,  overflowed, 
and  some  of  the  barrels  were  carried  out  on  the  bank  where 
the  enemy  lay.  The  river  now  was  strictly  watched ;  and 
the  garrison,  having  eaten  the  leather  of  their  shields  and 
every  species  of  vile  food,  at  length  capitulated.  Most  of 
the  towns  of  Bruttium  which  remained  faithful  to  Rorfie 
Were  soon  afler  forced  to  surrender. 


214  HISTORY   OF   ROME. 

But  a  still  greater  misfortune  befell  the  Romans  in  the 
north  of  Italy  ;  L.  Postumius,  the  consul  elect,  as  he  marched 
with  an  army  of  twenty-five  thousand  men,  through  a  wood 
in  which  the  Gauls  had  sawn  the  trees  on  the  way-side  so  as 
to  be  easily  thrown  down,  was  attacked  by  them;  numbers 
were  crushed  to  death  by  the  trees,  and  few  of  the  whole 
army  escaped.  The  consul's  skull  was  fashioned  into  a 
drinking  cup  by  the  victors,  to  be  used  at  their  principal 
temple.  The  news  of  this  misfortune  caused  great  terror  at 
'Rome;  but  the  senate  carried  on  the  business  of  the  state 
with  their  usual  equanimity.  Their  body,  which  had  been 
greatly  reduced,  received  at  this  time  an  accession  of  one 
hundred  and  seventy-seven  members.*  Marcellus  was  elect- 
ed as  colleague  to  Gracchus,  in  the  room  of  Postumius;  but 
the  election  being  pronounced  faulty  by  the  augurs,  Fabius 
Maximus  was  chosen  in  his  stead. 

Having  brought  the  war  in  Italy  to  the  end  of  the  third 
year,  we  will  now  take  a  view  of  the  progress  of  affairs  in 
Spain. 

Cn.  Scipio  on  arriving  in  Spain  (534)  speedily  reduced 
the  whole  coast  from  the  Pyrenees  to  the  Ebro.  He  ad- 
vanced into  the  interior,  and  defeated  Hanno  at  a  place 
named  Scissis.  The  Punic  general  was  made  prisoner, 
with  two  thousand  of  his  men,  and  six  thousand  were  slain. 
Hasdrubal  meantime  crossed  the  Ebro,  and  fell  on  and  drove 
to  their  ships,  with  loss,  the  crews  of  the  Roman  fleet  at 
Tarraco,  (Tarragona.)  He  however  always  retired  before 
Scipio,  who  reduced  the  Ilergetes  and  some  other  peoples 
of  that  country.  The  following  spring  (535J  Scipio  sailed 
to  the  mouth  of  the  Ebro,  where  the  Punic  neet  and  army 
lay,  and  by  a  sudden  attack  drove  the  fleet  of  forty  ships 
ashore,  and  carried  away  twenty-five  of  them  ;  and  he  after- 
wards defeated  the  Ilergetes,  who  had  resumed  their  arms. 
As  Hasdrubal  was  coming  to  their  aid,  he  was  recalled  by 

*  Sp.  Carvilius  on  this  occasion  proposed  that  two  out  of  the  senate 
of  each  of  the  peoples  of  the  Latin  Name  should  be  given  the  full  Ro- 
man franchise,  and  admitted  into  the  Roman  senate.  This  liberal  and 
prudent  project  was  of  course  treated  with  scorn.  M.  Fabius  Buteo 
was  made  dictator  for  the  purpose  of  completing  the  senate,  which  he 
did  in  the  following  manner  :  —  He  selected  first  those  who  had  borne 
curule  offices  since  the  censorship  of  ^milius  and  C.  Flaminius,  and 
had  not  yet  been  admitted  into  the  senate  ;  then  those  who  had  been 
eediles,  tribunes  of  the  people,  or  quaestors;  finally,  those  who  had  held 
no  office,  but  had  in  their  houses  the  spoils  of  enemies  or  a  civic  crown. 
It  is  remarkable  that  there  were  now  two  dictators  at  a  time,  and  that 
FabiuB  had  no  master  of  the  horse. 


TREATY   BETWEEN    HANNIBAL    AND   KING   PHILIP.    215 

tidings  that  the  Celtiberians,  instigated  by  the  Romans,  had 
invaded  the  Punic  province  and  taken  three  towns;  he 
hastened  back  to  its  defence,  but  was  defeated  in  two  battles, 
with  the  loss  of  15,000  men  slain  and  4000  taken. 

In  this  state  of  affairs  P.  Scipio,  whose  command  had 
been  prolonged,  arrived  with  thirty  ships  of  war,  eight  thousand 
troops,  and  a  large  supply  of  stores.  The  Romans  now 
crossed  the  Ebro,  and  advanced  to  Saguntum,  as  it  was  here 
that  the  hostages  which  Hannibal  had  required  from  the 
Spanish  princes  were  kept,  and  the  garrison  was  not  strong, 
and  if  the  hostages  were  released  those  princes  might  be 
more  easily  induced  to  join  the  Romans.  Fortune  here  fa- 
vored them;  a  Spaniard  named  Abelux  persuaded  Bostar, 
the  commandant,  that  his  wisest  course  would  be  to  send 
the  hostages  back  to  their  friends,  whose  gratitude  might 
then  be  relied  on  ;  and  he  offered  to  be  himself  the  agent  in 
the  business.  Bostar  gave  his  consent ;  Abelux  went  that 
night  secretly  to  the  Roman  camp,  and  engaged  with  Scipio 
to  put  the  hostages  into  his  hands ;  and  the  following  night, 
when  he  left  the  town  with  them,  a  party  of  Romans,  as 
had  been  arranged,  took  him  and  them  and  brought  them 
into  the  camp.  The  hostages  were  forthwith  sent  off  to 
their  friends,  and  this  apparent  generosity  produced  a  great 
effect  in  favor  of  the  Romans.  The  approach  of  winter 
put  a  stop  to  all  further  operations. 

The  following  year  (536)  Hasdrubal  had  to  turn  all  his 
forces  against  a  people  named  the  Carpesians,*  who  had 
risen  in  arms.  When  he  had  subdued  them,  he  received 
orders  from  home  to  lead  his  army  into  Italy  to  join  his  bro- 
ther. At  his  earnest  desire,  Himilco  was  sent  with  a  fleet 
and  army  to  succeed  him,  as  otherwise,  he  assured  the 
senate,  all  Spain  would  be  lost.  He  then  marched  for  the 
Ebro;  the  Romans,  learning  his  intentions,  crossed  that 
river,  and  an  engagement  ensued,  in  which  Hasdrubal  sus- 
tained a  total  defeat.  This  victory  decided  those  who  were 
wavering,  and  nearly  all  Spain  now  joined  the  Romans. 

In  Italy,  at  the  commencement  of  the  next  campaign, 
(537,)  the  two  main  armies  remained  long  inactive.  The 
Romans  were  encamped  at  Suessula;  Hannibal  at  Tifata, 
over  Capua.  During  this  time  the  Romans  found  that  a 
contest  with  a  new  and  powerful  enemy  awaited  them. 
Philip,  king  of  Macedonia,  having  ended  the  Confederate 

*  This  people  dwelt  on  the  Tagus  j  their  capital  was  Toletum,  (Toledo.) 


216  HISTORY   OF   ROME. 

War,*  resolved  to  join  his  arms  with  those  of  Hannibal,  to 
whom  he  sent  an  embassy :  and  a  treaty  was  made,  by  which 
the  king  engaged  to  invade  Italy  with  a  fleet  of  two  hun- 
dred ships ;  and  that  country  being  reduced  under  the  do- 
minion of  the  Carthaginians,  they  were  to  pass  over  and  aid 
in  bringing  Greece  and  the  islands  under  that  of  Philip.t 
Fortunately  for  the  Romans,  the  ship  in  which  the  envoys 
were  returning  fell  into  their  hands,  and  the  summer  was 
gone  before  a  second  embassy  reached  the  Punic  camp  and 
returned,  so  that  the  season  of  action  was  lost.  P.  Vale- 
rius Flaccus  was  stationed  with  fifty  ships  at  Tarentum  to 
watch  the  progress  of  events  beyond  the  sea,  and  the  praetor 
M.  Valerius  Laevinus  had  orders,  in  case  of  any  hostile  move- 
ments there,  to  go  to  Tarentum,  and  to  land  his  troops  on 
the  opposite  coast,  and  transfer  the  war  thither. 

The  consul  Fabius  at  length  put  his  troops  in  motion,  and 
having  passed  the  Vulturnus,  and  taken  some  of  the  re- 
volted towns,  marched  between  Hannibal's  camp  and  Capua 
to  Vesuvius,  where  Marcellus  lay,  whom  he  sent  with  his 
troops  to  the  defence  of  Nola.  Marcellus  while  here  made 
frequent  incursions  into  the  adjoining  parts  of  Samniura 
and  laid  them  waste,  arid  at  the  earnest  desire  of  the  Sam- 
nites  Hannibal  led  his  troops  against  Nola,  where  he  was 
joined  by  Hanno  with  his  forces  from  Bruttium.  Marcel- 
lus having  drawn  up  his  troops,  as  before,  within  the  town, 
made  a  sally ;  but  a  sudden  storm  of  wind  and  rain  came 
on  and  parted  the  combatants.  The  rain  lasted  all  that 
night  and  part  of  the  next  day.  On  the  third  day  a  general 
engagement  was  fought,  and  Hannibal,  it  is  said,  was  re- 
pulsed with  the  loss  of  5000  men  and  six  elephants ;  and 
the  next  day  1272  Spanish  and  Numidian  horse  went  over 
to  the  Romans,  whom  they  served  faithfully  all  the  rest  of 
the  war.  . 

Hannibal  having  dismissed  Hanno  went  into  Apulia  for 
the  winter,  and  fixed  his  camp  near  the  town  of  Arpi. 
Hanno  meantime  endeavored  to  reduce  the  Greek  towns 
in  Bruttium,  which,  chiefly  out  of  fear  and  hatred  of  the 
Bruttians,  remained  faithful  to  Rome.  His  attempt  on 
Rhegium  failed ;  but  the  Locrians  were  forced  to  form  an 

*  History  of  Greece,  Part  III.  chap.  vii. 

t  Livy,  xxiii,  33.  Polybius  (vii.  9)  gives  a  copy  of  the  treaty, 
which  is  a  very  curious  document.  It  only  speaks  however  of  an  alli- 
ance offensive  and  defensive,  and  of  obliging  the  Romans  to  give  up 
all  their  possessions  on  the  farther  coast  of  the  Adriatic. 


AFFAIRS    OF    SARDINIA.  217 

alliance  with  Carthage.  The  Bruttians,  enraged  at  being 
balked  of  the  plunder  of  these  two  towns,  collected  a  body  of 
fifteen  thousand  men,  and  resolved  to  win  the  wealthy  city 
of  Croton  for  themselves.  In  this,  as  in  almost  every  other 
town,  the  men  of  property  were  for,  the  lower  orders  against, 
the  Romans.  The  latter  put  the  town  into  the  possession  of 
the  Bruttians ;  the  optimates  retired  to  the  citadel,  and  the 
Bruttians  and  the  people  being  unable  to  take  it  applied  to 
Hanno.  As  the  circuit  of  the  town  greatly  exceeded  the 
wants  of  the  inhabitants,  Hanno  proposed  to  those  in  the 
citadel  to  receive  a  colony  of  Bruttians  into  the  town ;  but 
they  declared  that  they  would  sooner  die :  at  last  they  con- 
sented to  emigrate,  and  retire  to  Locri.  In  these  parts 
Rhegium  alone  now  remained  to  the  Romans. 

In  Sardinia  a  man  named  Hampsicora  had,  at  the  insti- 
gation of  the  Carthaginians,  raised  the  standard  of  revolt 
against  the  Romans.  The  ill  health  of  the  pro-praetor,  d.  Mu- 
cins, prevented  active  operations  against  him ;  but  the  prae- 
tor P.  Manlius,  who  now  came  out  as  his  successor,  finding 
himself  at  the  head  of  a  force  of  22,000  foot  and  1200  horse, 
advanced,  and  encamped  near  the  Sardinian  army.  Hamp- 
sicora had  left  the  command  with  his  son,  and  the  inexpe- 
rienced youth  venturing  to  engage  the  Romans  was  defeat- 
ed, with  a  loss  of  3000  men  killed  and  1800  taken.  This 
victory  would  have  ended  the  war,  but  that  Hasdrubal 
landed  with  a  Punic  army.  Having  joined  Hampsicora, 
he  gave  Manlius  battle.  After  a  conflict  of  four  hours  vic- 
tory declared  for  Rome :  the  enemy  had  12,000  slain,  3700 
taken,  among  whom  were  Hasdrubal  and  two  other  Carthagin- 
ians of  rank,  Hanno  and  Mago.  Hampsicora  put  an  end  to 
himself  a  few  days  after,  and  the  whole  island  then  submitted. 

In  Spain  the  Scipios  gave  a  decisive  defeat  to  the  three 
Punic  generals  Hasdrubal,  Mago,  and  Hamilcar,  who  were 
besieging  the  town  of  Illiturgis,  (near  Andujar.)  It  is  said 
that  with  but  sixteen  thousand  men  they  routed  sixty  thou- 
sand, killing  more  men  than  were  in  their  own  army. 
Shortly  after  they  gave  them  another  great  defeat  at  a 
town  named  Intibili.  Several  more  of  the  native  peoples 
now  declared  for  the  Romans. 

The  steady  ally  of  Rome,  the  good  king  Hiero,  died  this 
year,  after  a  life  of  ninety,  a  reign  of  fifty  years.  He  was 
succeeded  by  his  grandson  Hieronymus,  a  boy  of  but  fifteen 
years  of  age.  A  party  in  Syracuse,  adverse  to  Rome,  per- 
suaded this  giddy,  profligate  youth  to  seek  the  friendship  of 

19  '  BB 


218  HISTORY    OF    ROME. 

Carthage,  and  he  sent  an  embassy  with  that  view  to  Han- 
nibal. His  overtures  were  eagerly  accepted;  a  treaty  was 
formed,  by  which  the  island  was  to  be  divided  between 
them,  and  Hieronymus  commenced  hostilities.  He  was 
however  assassinated  shortly  afterwards  at  Leontini ;  but  the 
anti-Roman  party  still  maintained  the  superiority  at  Syra- 
cuse. 

'J'he  time  of  the  elections  at  Rome  being  arrived,  (538,) 
the  consul  Fabius  returned  to  hold  them.  The  prerogative 
tribe  {i.  e.  the  one  allotted  to  vote  first)  having  named  T. 
Otacilius  and  M.  ^Emilius,  the  consul  addressed  them,  and 
reminding  them  of  their  bounden  duty  in  the  present  con- 
dition of  their  country  to  elect  none  but  the  ablest  men,  de- 
sired them  to  vote  over  again.  They  then  chose  himself  and 
M.  Marcellus;  and  all  the  other  tribes  followed  their  ex- 
ample, in  selecting  the  only  men  fit  to  oppose  to  Hannibal  ; 
and  old  men  called  to  mind  the  similar  consulates  of  Fabius 
Maximus  and  P.  Decius  in  the  Gallic,  and  of  Papirius  and 
Carvilius  in  the  Samnite  war.  It  was  resolved  to  have 
eighteen  legions  this  year,  (for  which  purpose  six  new  ones 
were  to  be  raised,)  and  a  fleet  of  one  hundred  and  fifty  ships 
of  war.  One  hundred  new  ships  were  built,  and  every  citi- 
zen whose  fortune  had  been  rated  at  50,000  asses  and  up- 
wards in  the  last  census  was  obliged  to  furnish  one  or  more 
sailors,  according  to  his  property,  and  to  give  them  a  year's 

pay. 

The  consul  Fabius  having  returned  to  his  army,  the  Cam- 
panians,  fearing  that  he  would  open  the  campaign  with  the 
siege  of  Capua,  sent  to  Arpi  to  implore  Hannibal  to  return 
to  their  defence.  He  therefore  came  and  resumed  his  posi- 
tion on  Mount  Tifata,  whence  he  moved  down  to  the  coast  ; 
and  after  making  an  ineffectual  attempt  on  Puteoli,  which 
the  Romans  had  fortified,  he,  at  the  invitation  of  the  popu- 
lar party,  approached  Nola.  But  Marcellus  had  thrown  him- 
self, with  a  force  of  six  thousand  foot  and  three  hundred 
horse,  into  it.  An  action,  as  before,  was  fought  under  the 
walls,  rather  to  the  disadvantage  of  Hannibal,  who,  giving 
up  all  hopes  of  taking  the  town,  broke  up  in  the  night  and 
marched  for  Tarentum,  where  he  had  a  secret  understand- 
ing with  some  of  the  citizens,  who  had  formerly  been  his 
prisoners.  . 

As  the  Roman  power  was  annihilated  in  Bruttium  and 
Lucania,  Hanno  led  his  army  of  seventeen  thousand  foot 
and  twelve  hundred  horse,  composed  of  Punic,  Lucanian, 


DEFEAT    OP    HANNO.  219 

and  Bruttian  troops,  into  Samnium,  to  occupy  the  impor- 
tant town  of  Beneventura.  But  Fabius  had  sent  orders  to 
Tib.  Gracchus,  who  was  at  Nuceria  with  two  legions,  prin- 
cipally composed  of  Volones,*  to  hasten  to  preoccupy  it. 
Gracchus  had  executed  his  orders,  and  when  Hanno  came, 
and,  encamping  on  the  river  Calor  about  three  miles  off,  be- 
gan to  lay  the  country  waste,  he  led  his  troops  out  against 
him.  As  the  Volones,  when  leaving  their  winter  quarters, 
had  begun  to  murmur  at  not  having  yet  received  their  free- 
dom, he  had  written  to  the  senate  on  the  subject,  and  had 
received  authority  to  act  as  he  deemed  best.  He  now  as- 
sembled his  troops,  and  told  them  that  whoever  next  day 
brought  him  the  head  of  an  enemy,  should  have  his  freedom. 
At  sunrise  he  led  them  out ;  the  enemy  did  not  decline  the 
proffered  battle.  They  fought  for  four  hours  with  equal  ad- 
vantage, when  Gracchus,  being  told  by  the  tribunes  that  the 
condition  on  which  he  had  promised  freedom,  greatly  retard- 
ed the  men,  gave  orders  for  them  to  fling  away  the  heads  and 
grasp  their  swords.  The  enemies  were  soon  driven  to  their 
camp  with  great  slaughter ;  the  victors  entered  pellmell  with 
them,  and  of  the  whole  army  but  two  thousand,  (the  number  of 
the  slain  on  the  side  of  the  Romans,)  and  these  chiefly  horse, 
escaped.  Gracchus  conferred  the  promised  boon  of  freedom 
on  the  spot,  and  led  back  his  triumphant  army  to  Beneven- 
tum,  where  the  people  all  poured  out  to  meet  them,  and  craved 
the  proconsul's  permission  to  entertain  them.  Leave  was 
granted  ;  tables  were  then  spread  in  the  streets ;  the  Volones 
feasted,  with  caps  or  bands  of  white  wool  on  their  heads. 
Gracchus  had  this  scene  afterwards  painted  in  the  temple  of 
Liberty,  which  his  father  had  built  on  the  Aventine. 

The  two  consuls  meantime  had  laid  siege  to  and  reduced 
Casilinum;  Fabius  then  entered  Samnium  and  laid  it  waste; 
Hannibal's  plans  on  Tarentum  were  foiled  by  M.  Valerius, 
who  put  a  garrison  into  the  town.  On  the  other  hand, 
Gracchus  having  sent  some  cohorts  of  Lucanians  to  plunder 
the  hostile  territory,  they  were  fallen  on  and  totally  cut  to, 
pieces  by  Hanno. 

In  Syracuse,  after  some  of  the  atrocities  familiar  to  the 
Greek  democracies,  the  supreme  power  was  transferred  from 
the  hands  of  the  party  who  were  for  moderation  and  remain- 
ing faithful  to  Rome,  to  the  rabble  and  the  mercenary  sol- 
diers.    War  was  resolved  on,  and  the  chief  command  given 

*  That  IS,  the  volunteer  slaves,  who  had  been  armed.  See  above, 
p.  211. 


^6  HISTORY   or  ROME. 

to  Hippocrates  and  Epic^des,  two  Carthaginians  of  Syra- 
cusan  descent,  whom  Hannibal  had  sent  to  Hieronymus. 
Marcellus,  to  whom  the  conduct  of  the  war  against  Syracuse 
was  committed,  took  Leontini  by  assault,  and  then  came  and 
encamped  at  the  Olympium  before  Syracuse,*  while  his  fleet 
assailed  the  wall  of  Acradina  on  the  sea-side.  Quinqueremes 
were  lashed  together,  and  wooden  towers  erected  on  them, 
and  engines  plied,  while  light  troops  kept  up  a  constant  dis- 
charge from  vessels  ranged  behind  them.  But  Archimedes, 
the  greatest  mechanist  of  the  age,  was  in  Syracuse ;  and  in 
the  time  of  Hiero  he  had  placed  engines  along  the  walls, 
which  now  baffled  all  the  skill  and  efforts  of  the  Romans,! 
and  Marcellus  found  himself  obliged  to  convert  the  siege 
into  a  blockade.  Himilco,  with  a  Punic  army,  having  gained 
over  Agrigentum  and  some  other  towns,  came  and  encamp- 
ed on  the  Anapus,  about  eight  miles  from  Syracuse;  but 
finding  it  in  no  need  of  aid,  he  led  off  his  forces  to  the  town 
of  Murgantia,  which  the  people  put  into  his  hands,  with  the 
Roman  garrison  and  magazines  which  were  in  it.  The  peo- 
ple of  Enna,  in  the  centre  of  the  island,  being  suspected  by 
the  Roman  commandant  of  a  similar  design,  he  fell  on  and 
massacred  them  as  they  were  sitting  in  assembly ;  and  Mar- 
cellus, so  far  from  blaming  the  deed,  gave  the  plunder  of  the 
town  to  the  soldiers.  As  Enna  was  sacred  to  the  goddesses 
Ceres  and  Proserpina,  the  horror  of  this  impious  deed  made 
most  of  the  remaining  towns  declare  for  the  Punic  cause. 
Marcellus  now  fixed  his  winter  camp  at  Leon,  about  five 
miles  north  of  Syracuse. 

The  Romans  commenced  this  year  active  operations 
against  the  king  of  Macedonia,  whom  Lasvinus  defeated  near 
the  town  of  Apollonia  in  Epirus. J  In  Spain,  the  advantage 
was  on  the  side  of  the  Romans,  who  gained  some  victories 
over  their  antagonists. 

The  consuls  for  the  next  year  (539)  were  d.  Fabius  Max- 
imus  (son  of  the  late  consul)  and  Tib.  Sempronius  Grac- 
chus. The  year  is  remarkably  barren  of  events.  Hanni- 
bal remained  inactive  in  the  neighborhood  of  Tarentum ; 

*  See  the  description  and  plan  of  Syracuse,  History  of  Greece, 
p.  235,  2d  edit. 

t  We  are  told  that  some  of  his  machines  were  iron  hands,  which 
seizing  the  ships  by  the  prow  turned  them  up  on  the  poop,  and  then 
let  them  fall ;  and  that  by  means  of  burning-glasses  he  set  fire  to  seve- 
ral of  the  Roman  vessels.     (Livy,  xxiii.  34.    Zonaras,  ix.  4.) 

t  The  whole  of  the.  wars  t>etw€en  Philip  and  the  Romans  will  be 
found  in  the  History  of  Greece,  Part  III.  chap.  vii.  and  viii. 


TAKING    OF    TARENTUM.  221 

MarcellUs  lay  before  Syracuse ;  the  consul  Fabius  recovered 
the  totvri  of  Arpi.  In  Spain  the  Scipios  were  still  suc- 
cessful ;  they  began  to  follow  the  example  of  the  Cartha- 
ginians by  taking  the  natives  into  pay,  and  a  body  of  Celti- 
berians  served  under  their  standard.  They  also  extended 
their  views  to  Africa,  where  a  Numidian  prince  named 
Syphax  was  at  war  with  the  Carthagihians.  They  sent 
thrise  centurions  to  him  to  propose  an  alliance ;  their  offer 
was  gladly  accepted  by  the  Numidian,  and  at  his  request 
one  of  the  centurions  remained  with  him  to  form  and  disci- 
pline a  body  of  infantry,  an  arm  in  which  the  Numidians 
had  been  hitherto  very  deficient.  But  the  Carthaginians 
formed  an  alliance  with  Gala,  the  king  of  that  portion  of  the 
Numidians  named  Massylians;  and  his  troops,  led  by  his 
son  Masinissa,  a  youth  of  seventeen  years  of  age,  being 
joined  with  theirs,  they  gave  Syphax  a  total  defeat.  He 
fled  to  the  Maurusians  and  collected  another  army;  but 
Masinissa  pursued  and  prevented  him  from  passing  over  to 
Spain  as  he  had  intended. 

The  following  year  (540)  was  one  of  the  most  eventful 
of  the  war.  Q.  Fulvius  Flaccus  and  Ap.  Claudius  were 
chosen  consuls,  and  the  army  was  raised  to  three-and-twenty 
legions. 

Early  in  the  year  Tarentum  fell  into  the  possession  of 
Hannibal,  in  the  following  manner.*  A  Tarentine  envoy 
at  Rome,  named  Phileas,  persuaded  his  countrymen  who 
were  retained  there  as  hostages  to  make  their  escape.  They 
were  pursued  and  taken  at  Tarracina,  and  being  brought 
back  were  scourged  and  cast  from  the  Tarpeian  rock.  This 
piece  of  cruelty  irritated  the  minds  of  their  friends  and  rel- 
atives at  Tarentum,  and  thirteen  young  men  entered  into 
a  plot  to  give  the  town  up  to  Hannibal.  Going  out  under 
the  pretext  of  hunting,  they  sought  the  Punic  camp,  which 
lay  at  a  distance  of  three  days'  march ;  and  two  of  them, 
named  Nico  and  Philemenus,  giving  themselves  up  to  the 
guards,  demanded  to  be  led  into  the  presence  of  Hannibal. 
The  plan  was  soon  arranged,  and  Hannibal  desired  them, 
as  they  were  going  away,  to  drive  off  the  cattle  which  would 
be  sent  out  of  the  camp  next  morning  to  graze,  as  this  would 
give  them  credit  in  the  eyes  of  their  countrymen,  and  help 
to  conceal  their  dealings  with  him.  They  did  as  directed, 
and,  by  sharing  their  booty,  gained  great  favor  and  many 

*  Polybius)  viii.  Sfe.     Livy,  **t.  7—11, 
19* 


222  HISTORY   OF   ROME. 

imitators.  They  thus  went  backwards  and  forwards  seve- 
ral times,  and  it  was  arranged  that  the  rest  should  remain 
quiet,  while  Philemenus,  whose  passion  for  the  chase  was 
well  known,  should  keep  going  in  and  out  under  the  pretext 
of  hunting.  He  always  went  and  came  at  night,  alleging 
his  fear  of  the  enemy,  and  always  returned  loaded  with 
game,  partly  killed  by  himself,  partly  given  him  by  Hanni- 
bal. A  portion  of  this  he  took  care  to  give  to  Livius,  the 
Roman  commandant,  and  another  part  to  the  guards  at  the 
gate  by  which  he  used  to  come  in.  At  length  he  won  their 
confidence  so  completely,  that  as  soon  as  his  whistle  was 
heard  outside  in  the  night,  the  gate  was  opened,  without 
any  inquiry. 

Hannibal  judged  that  the  time  for  action  was  now  arrived. 
He  had  hitherto  feigned  illness,  lest  the  Romans  should 
wonder  at  his  staying  so  long  in  the  one  place ;  and  he  now 
did  so  more  than  ever.  Then  selecting  ten  thousand  of  his 
boldest  and  most  active  troops,  both  horse  and  foot,  and  di^ 
recting  them  to  take  four  days'  provision,  he  set  out  with 
them  before  dawn ;  a  party  of  eighty  Numidian  horse  pre- 
ceded them  in  order  to  scour  the  country,  and  prevent  in- 
formation of  their  approach  from  being  conveyed  to  Taren- 
tum.  Philemenus  was  with  him  as  his  guide,  and  the  march 
was  arranged  so  as  to  reach  the  city  by  midnight. 

The  day  fixed  on  by  the  conspirators  was  one  on  which 
Livius  was  to  be  at  a  banquet  at  the  place  named  the  Mu- 
seum, close  by  the  market.  It  was  late  in  the  evening 
when  tidings  came  of  the  Numidians  being  seen,  and  he 
merely  directed  a  party  of  horse  to  go  out  early  in  the 
morning  and  drive  them  off;  at  night  he  returned  home 
without  any  suspicion,  went  to  bed,  and  fell  asleep.  The 
conspirators  remained  on  the  watch  for  the  signal  arranged 
with  Hannibal,  who,  when  he  drew  near  to.  the  gate  which 
had  been  agreed  on,  in  the  east  part  of  the  city,  was-  to 
kindle  a  fire  on  a  certain  spot,  and  when  those  within  had  re- 
plied by  a  similar  signal,  both  fires  were  to  be  extinguished. 
The  signal  was  made  and  returned  in  due  time;  the  con- 
spirators then  rushed  to  the  gate,  killed  the  guards,  and 
admitted  Hannibal,  who,  leaving  his  horse  without,  moved 
on  with  his  infantry,  and  took  possession  of  the  market. 
Meantime  Philemenus  was  gone  round  with  a  thousand 
Africans  to  the  gate  he  was  used  to  enter  at.  He  had  the 
carcass  of  a  huge  wild-boar  prepared  for  the  purpose,  and 
giving  a  whistle  as  usual,  the  wicket  was  opened.     He  him- 


SUCCESSES    OF    HANNIBAL.  223 

self  and  three  others  bore  the  carcass  on  a  barrow,  and 
while  the  guard  was  handling  and  admiring  it,  they  killed 
him:  they  then  let  in  thirty  Africans  who  were  behind 
them,  and  cutting  the  bars  opened  the  gates  and  admitted 
all  the  rest,  and  they  joined  Hannibal  at  the  market.  He 
divided  a  body  of  two  thousand  Gauls  into  three  parts,  and 
sent  them  through  the  town,  with  orders  to  kill  all  the  Ro- 
mans they  met ;  and  the  conspirators,  who  had  gotten  some 
Roman  trumpets  and  learned  how  to  sound  them,  stood  at 
the  theatre  and  blew,  and  as  the  soldiers  hastened  on  all 
sides  to  the  signal,  they  were  met  and  slain.  Livius  at  the 
first  alarm  had  run  down  to  the  port,  and  getting  into  a  boat 
passed  over  to  the  citadel. 

As  soon  as  it  was  daylight  Hannibal  invited  all  the  Ta- 
rentines  to  come  without  arms  to  the  market.  When  they 
appeared  he  spoke  to  them  kindly  as  their  friend,  and  dis- 
missed them  with  directions  to  set  a  mark  on  their  houses. 
He  then  gave  orders  to  pillage  all  the  houses  not  marked, 
as  belonging  to  the  Romans  or  their  friends. 

As  the  citadel  lay  on  a  small  peninsula,  and  was  secured 
on  the  town  side  by  a  deep  ditch  and  wall,  there  were  no 
hopes  of  being  able  to  take  it.  To  secure  the  city,  there- 
fore, Hannibal  began  to  run  a  rampart  parallel  to  that  of 
the  citadel ;  the  Romans  attempted  to  impede  the  works, 
but  were  driven  back  with  great  loss.  The  rampart  was 
then  completed,  and  a  ditch  also  run  between  it  and  the 
town  ;  and  Hannibal  retired  and  encamped  on  the  GalaBsus, 
about  five  miles  off.  When  all  was  finished,  some  works 
were  carried  on  against  the  citadel ;  but  the  Romans,  hav- 
ing been  reenforced  from  Metapontum,  made  a  sally  by  night 
and  destroyed  them.  Hannibal  saw  that  unless  the  Taren- 
tines  were  masters  of  the  sea,  there  was  no  chance  of  re- 
ducing the  citadel.  But  their  ships  which  were  in  the  har- 
bor could  not  get  out,  as  that  fortress  commanded  the 
entrance;  he  therefore  had  them  hauled  along  a  street 
which  ran  across  the  peninsula  into  the  open  sea  on  the 
south  side.  The  fleet  then  anchored  before  the  citadel ; 
and  Hannibal,  leaving  a  garrison  in  the  town,  returned  to 
winter  in  his  former  camp.* 

*  Livy  says  that  his  authorities  differed  as  to  the  year  of  the  revolt  of 
Tarentum,  some  placing  it  in  5.39,  but  the  greater  number,  and  nearest 
to  the  events,  in  540.  if  this  last  be  the  true  date,  it  must  have  been 
early  in  the  spring  ;  yet  Livy  himself  says  Hannibal  went  into  winter 
quarters  immediately  after  it ;  and  Polybius  (viii.  36, 13)  says  that  he 


224  HISTORT   OF   ROME. 

In  the  beginning  of  May  the  Roman  consuls  and  prsetors 
set  out  for  their  respective  provinces.  The  two  consuls, 
Q.  Fulvius  and  Ap.  Claudius,  encamped  at  Bovianum,  in 
Samnium,  intending  to  lay  siege  to  Capua.  The  Campa- 
nians,  being  prevented  by  their  presence  from  cultivating 
their  lands,  sent  to  Hannibal,  imploring  him  to  supply  them 
with  corn  before  the  Romans  entered  their  country.  He 
ordered  Hanno  to  attend  to  this  matter,  and  this  general 
came  and  encamped  near  Beneventum ;  and  having  collected 
there  a  large  supply  of  corn,  sent  word  to  the  Campanians 
to  come  and  fetch  it.  With  their  usual  indolence  and 
negligence,  they  came  with  little  more  than  forty  wagons, 
and  Hanno,  having  rated  them  well  for  it,  appointed  another 
day.  But  the  Beneventines  now  heard  of  it :  they  sent  to 
inform  the  consuls;  and  Fulvius  set  out  with  his  army, 
and  entered  Beneventum  by  night.  The  Campanians  came 
this  time  with  two  thousand  wagons  and  a  great  crowd  of 
people ;  and  Fulvius,  hearing  that  Hanno  was  away  to  get 
corn,  came  before  daylight  and  assailed  the  camp.  As  this 
lay  on  a  hill,  it  cost  the  Romans  much  labor  and  loss  to 
reach  it;  and  the  consul  having  advised  with  his  officers, 
ordered  the  call  for  retreat  to  be  sounded ;  but  the  soldiers 
heeded  it  not ;  they  rushed  on  with  emulative  ardor,  car- 
ried the  rampart,  and  made  themselves  masters  of  the  camp 
and  all  it  contained.  The  consuls  shortly  after,  having  sum- 
moned Gracchus  from  Lucaniato  the  defence  of  Beneventum, 
proceeded  to  lay  siege  to  Capua.  But  Gracchus  was  drawn 
by  the  treachery  of  a  Lucanian  into  an  ambush  laid  for  him 
by  Mago,  and  he  and  all  that  were  with  him  were  slain. 

When  the  consuls  entered  Campania  and  began  to  lay  it 
waste,  the  Campanians,  aided  by  a  body  of  two  thousand 
horse  which  Hannibal  had  sent  them,  sallied  forth  and  killed 
about  fifteen  hundred  of  the  Romans.  Hannibal  himself 
soon  appeared,  and  gave  the  consuls  battle;  but  the  en- 
gagement was  broken  off  by  the  sudden  appearance  in  the 
distance  of  the  army  lately  commanded  by  Gracchus,  which 
each  supposed  to  be  coming  to  the  aid  of  the  other  side. 
The  consuls  in  the  night  divided  their  forces,  Fulvius  going 
toward  Cumae,  Claudius  into  Lucania.  Hannibal  pursued 
this  last,  who  gave  him  the  slip  and  returned  to  Capua. 
Chance  however  threw  a  victory  into  the  hands  of  the  Pu- 

remained  there  the  rest  of  the  winter.     It  seems  therefore  most  jprob- 
able  that  the  true  time  was  the  autumn  or  beginning  of  the  winter  of  539. 


TAKING    OF    SYRACUSE.  225 

nic  general;  for  a  centurion  named  M.  Centenius  having 
boasted  to  the  senate  of  all  the  mischief  he  could  do  the 
enemy,  from  his  knowledge  of  the  country,  if  they  would 
let  him  have  five  thousand  men,  they  had  the  folly  to  give 
him  eight  thousand,  half  citizens,  half  allies,  and  so  many 
volunteers  joined  him  on  the  way  as  doubled  his  army.  With 
this  force  he  entered  Lucania,  where  Hannibal  now  was. 
But  it  was  a  far  different  thing  to  lead  a  company,  and  to 
command  an  army  opposed  to  such  a  general  as  Hannibal, 
who  speedily  brought  him  to  an  action  ;  and  of  his  whole 
force  not  more  than  one  thousand  men  escaped.  Hannibal 
moved  thence  into  Apulia,  where  the  praetor  Cn.  Fulvius  lay 
with  an  army  of  eighteen  thousand  men  at  the  town  of  Her- 
donia.  The  Roman  general  was  rash  and  unskilful,  and  his 
army  completely  demoralized  by  laxity  of  discipline ;  they 
therefore  yielded  the  able  Carthaginian  an  easy  victory,  and 
but  two  thousand  men  escaped  from  the  field. 


CHAPTER  V. 

taking  of  syracuse. defeat  and  death  of  the  scipios. 

—  Hannibal's  march  to  rome.  —  surrender  of  capua. 

— scipio  in  spain.- — taking  of  new  carthage. affairs 

in  italy. retaking  of  tarentum. defeat  of  has- 

drubal  in  spain. death  of  marcellus. march  of 

HASDRUBAL. HIS    DEFEAT    ON    THE    METAURUS. 

While  the  war  thus  proceeded  in  Italy,  Marcellus  urged  on 
the  siege  of  Syracuse.  Taking  advantage  of  a  festival  of 
Diana,  (Artemis,)  which  the  Syracusans  were  wont  to  cele- 
brate with  abundance  of  wine  and  revelry,  he  one  night 
scaled  the  walls  and  made  himself  master  of  the  Epipolae. 
He  encamped  between  Tycha  and  Neapolis,*  to  the  inhab- 
itants of  which  he  granted  their  lives  and  dwellings,  but 
both  quarters  were  given  up  to  plunder.  The  commandant 
at  Euryalus  surrendered  that  important  post  on  condition 
of  the  garrison  being  allowed  to  reenter  the  town.     Mar- 

*  Part  of  the  Tementtes.    See  History  of  Greece. 

cc 


226 


HISTORY    OF    ROME. 


cellus  then  formed  three  camps  in  order  to  blockade  Acra- 
dina,  while  a  Roman  fleet  lay  without  to  prevent  succors 
or  provisions  from  being  brought  by  sea. 

After  a  few  days,  Himiico  and  Hippocrates  came  to  the 
relief  of  the  town;  they  encamped  at  the  Great  Harbor, 
and  it  was  arranged,  that  while  they  attacked  the  division 
under  the  legate  T.  Crispinus  at  the  Olympium,  Epicydes 
should  make  a  sally  from  Acradina  against  Marcellus,  and 
the  Punic  fleet  in  the  Harbor  get  close  in  to  shore,  to  pre- 
vent any  aid  being  sent  to  Crispinus.  The  whole  plan 
however  miscarried,  for  they  were  repulsed  on  all  sides.  It 
being  now  the  autumn,  fevers,  produced  by  the  moisture  of 
the  soil,  broke  out  in  both  armies  :  the  Sicilians  in  the  army 
of  Hippocrates  returned  home  to  escape  it ;  but  the  Punic 
troops  having  no  retreat  all  perished,  and  among  them  their 
two  generals.  The  Romans  suffered  less,  as  they  were  in 
the  city,  and  had  the  shelter  of  the  houses. 

Bomilcar,  who  had  run  out  of  the  Great  Harbor  after 
the  capture  of  EpipolaB,  was  now  at  Cape  Pachynus  with  one 
hundred  and  thirty  ships  of  war  and  seventy  transports,  but 
the  easterly  winds  kept  him  from  doubling  it.  Epicydes, 
fearing  he  might  go  back,  gave  the  command  at  Acradina 
to  the  leaders  of  the  mercenaries,  and  went  to  him  in  order 
to  induce  him  to  give  battle  to  the  Roman  fleet,  which  was 
inferior  to  his  in  number.  The  two  fleets  were  now  lying 
one  on  each  side  of  the  cape  ;  and  as  soon  as  the  wind  ceased 
to  blow  from  the  east,  Bomilcar  stood  out  to  sea  in  order  to 
double  it,  but  seeing  the  Roman  ships  in  motion  he  lost 
courage,  and  sending  word  to  the  transports  to  go  back  to 
Africa,  made  all  sail  for  Tarentum  Epicydes  then,  giving 
up  Syracuse  for  lost,  retired  to  Agrigentum. 

A  surrender  of  Syracuse,  on  favorable  terms,  was  now 
near  being  effected.  Some  of  the  inhabitants,  learning  that 
Marcellus  would  consent  to  leave  them  in  the  enjoyment  of 
their  liberty  and  laws,  under  the  dominion  of  Rome,  fell  on 
and  slew  the  governors  whom  Epicydes  had  left,  and  having 
called  an  assembly  of  the  people,  elected  praetors,  {strategi,) 
some  of  whom  were  sent  to  treat  with  Marcellus.  Matters 
were  thus  on  the  point  of  being  accommodated,  when 
the  deserters  in  the  town,  persuading  the  mercenaries  that 
their  cause  was  the  same  with  theirs,  fell  on  and  killed  t}ie 
prsBtors  and  several  of  the  inhabitants,  and  then  appointed 
six  governors  of  their  own,  three  for  Acradina  and  three 
for  the  Island.     The  mercenaries,  however,  soon  saw  that 


DEFEAT    AND   DEATH    OF    THE    SCIPlOS.  227 

their  case  was  very  different  from  that  of  the  deserters; 
and  one  of  the  three  commandants  of  Acradina,  a  Spaniard 
named  Mericus,  made  a  secret  agreement  to  put  the  town 
into  the  hands  of  Marcellus.  For  this  purpose  he  proposed 
that  each  commandant  should  take  charge  of  a  separate 
part  of  the  town.  This  was  agreed  to,  and  the  part  as- 
signed to  himself  being  the  Island,  from  the  fount  of  Are- 
thusa  to  the  mouth  of  the  Greek  Harbor,  he  one  night 
admitted  a  party  of  Roman  soldiers  at  the  gate  nSjrt  to  the 
fount.  In  the  morning,  at  daybreak,  Marcellus  made  a 
general  attack  on  Acradina,  and  while  all  the  efforts  of  the 
besieged  were  directed  against  him,  troops  were  landed 
on  the  island,  and,  with  little  loss,  they  made  themselves 
masters  of  it  and  of  a  part  of  Acradina.  Marcellus  then 
sounded  a  recall,  lest  the  royal  treasures  should  be  pillaged 
in  the  confusion. 

The  deserters  who  were  in  Acradina  having  made  their 
escape  the  town  surrendered  unconditionally,  and  Mar- 
cellus, when  he  had  secured  the  royal  treasure  for  the 
state,  gave  the  city  up  to  pillage.  During  the  pillaging  a 
soldier  entered  the  room  where  Archimedes  was  deeply  en- 
gaged over  his  geometrical  figures,  and  not  knowing  who 
he  was,  killed  him.  Marcellus,  who  was  greatly  grieved  at 
this  mishap,  gave  him  an  honorable  sepulture.  The  nu- 
merous pictures,  statues,  and  other  works  of  art,  in  which 
Syracuse  abounded,  were  sent  to  Rome  to  adorn  that  cap- 
ital. Marcellus  shortly  after  gave  the  Punic  forces  and 
their  allies  a  great  defeat  on  the  river  Himera. 

But  equal  success  did  not  attend  the  Roman  arms  in 
Spain  ;  for,  the  Scipios  having  divided  their  forces,  Publius, 
hearing  that  a  Spanish  prince  named  Indibilis  was  coming 
with  seven  thousand  five  hundred  men  to  join  the  Punic 
army,  set  out  to  give  him  battle  on  the  road.  In  the  midst 
of  the  action  the  Numidian  horse  came  up,  and  then  the 
rest  of  the  Punic  army ;  the  Romans  were  cut  to  pieces, 
and  Scipio  himself  slain.  About  a  month  afi;er,  a  similar 
fate  befell  Cn.  Scipio  and  his  army.  From  the  wrecks  of 
the  two  armies  and  the  garrisons  a  new  one  was  formed; 
the  soldiers  themselves  chose  a  knight,  named  L.  Marcius, 
to  be  their  general,  and  under  his  command  they  repelled 
an  attack  on  their  own  camp,  and  afterwards  stormed  two 
Punic  camps  with  great  slaughter  of  the  enemies. 

The  siege  of  Capua  was  now  (541)  the  chief  object  of 
interest  in  Italy.     Fulvius  and  Claudius  had  shut  in  that 


328  HisTcmy  of  rome. 

town  completely  by  a  double  ditch  and  rampart;  famine 
pressed,  and  the  difficulty  of  communicating  with  Hannibal 
was  extreme.  At  length,  on  being  informed  of  the  condition 
of  his  allies,  the  Punic  general  came  to  their  aid,  and  a  com- 
bined attack  from  within  and  without  was  made  on  the  Ro- 
man lines.  It  was,  however,  repulsed  with  great  loss  on  the 
part  of  the  assailants,  and  Hannibal  saw  that  the  only  chance 
of  saving  Capua  was  to  menace  Rome,  as  the  army  would 
probably  be  recalled  to  its  defence.  Having,  therefore,  sent 
word  to  the  people  of  Capua  to  hold  out  manfully,  he  col- 
lected boats,  and  put  his  army  over  the  Vulturnus;  then 
crossing  the  Liris,  marched  rapidly  along  the  Latin  road 
by  Ferentinum,  Anagnia,  Lavici,  Tusculum,  and  Gabii,  and 
encamped  within  eight  miles  of  the  city. 

The  news  of  Hannibal's  march  caused  great  alarm  at 
Rome.  It  was  at  first  proposed  to  recall  all  the  troops  to 
the  defence  of  the  city  ;  but  at  last  it  was  thought  sufficient 
for  one  of  the  proconsuls  to  leave  Capua,  and  come  with  a 
part  of  their  forces.  As  Claudius  was  confined  by  a  wound, 
Fulvius  proceeded  with  sixteen  thousand  men  along  the 
Appian  road.  He  entered  Rome  at  the  Capene  gate,  and 
being  joined  in  command  with  the  consuls,  marched  his 
forces  through  the  city,  and  encamped  without  the  Colline 
gate.  Hannibal,  who  now  lay  beyond  the  Anio,  only  three 
miles  from  the  city,  advanced  with  two  thousand  horse  as 
near  as  the  temple  of  Hercules,  in  order  to  view  it.  Fulvius 
ordered  the  Roman  horse  to  charge,  and  the  consuls  at  the 
same  time  directed  a  body  of  twelve  hundred  Numidian  de- 
serters who  were  on  the  Aventine  to  come  down  to  the 
Esquiliae.  The  people  who  were  on  the  Capitol,  seeing 
them,  thought  the  Aventine  was  taken,  and  the  consternation 
that  prevailed  is  not  to  be  described. 

Next  day  Hannibal  offered  battle,  but  just  as  the  two  ar- 
mies were  drawn  out  there  came  on  a  violent  storm  of  rain 
and  hail  which  separated  them  ;  the  very  same  thing  occur- 
red the  following  day.  As  soon  as  they  returned  to  their 
camps  the  sky  cleared,  and  Hannibal,  it  is  said,  seeing  the 
hand  of  heaven  in  it,  resolved  to  retire.  It  is  also  said,  that 
he  was  moved  thereto  by  intelligence  of  troops  having  actu- 
ally left  the  city  at  this  time  for  the  army  in  Spain,  and  of 
the  very  ground  on  which  he  was  encamped  being  sold,  and 
having  brought  its  full  value,  —  all  which  proved  to  him  that 
Rome  was  not  to  be  conquered.*     He  then,  it  is  added,  in 

*  If  these  are  not  the  fictions  of  Roman  vanitj,  they  were  mere 
rhodomontades  or  artifices  to  keop  up  the  spirits  of  the  people. 


SCIPIO    IN    SPAIN.  229 

derision  called  for  an  auctioneer,  and  desired  him  to  put  up 
and  sell  the  bankers'  shops  round  the  Forum.  He  moved 
thence  to  the  river  Tutia,  six  miles  from  the  city,  then  pil- 
laged the  temple  of  Feronia  near  Capenum,  passed  rapidly 
through  the  Sabine  and  Marsian  countries,*  and  thence  to 
the  extremity  of  Bruttium,  in  the  hopes  of  surprising  Rhe- 
gium. 

On  the  return  of  Fulvius  to  the  camp  before  Capua,  the 
Campanians,  hopeless  of  relief,  agreed  to  an  unconditional 
surrender.  Twenty-eight  of  the  principal  senators  having 
partaken  of  a  splendid  supper  at  the  house  of  Vibius  Vir- 
rius,  the  chief  author  of  the  revolt,  took  poison  to  escape 
the  vengeance  of  the  Romans.  Seventy  of  the  remaining 
senators  were  put  to  death,  others  were  imprisoned  in  vari- 
ous places,  the  rest  of  the  people  sold  for  slaves,  the  town 
and  its  territory  confiscated  to  the  Roman  state. 

A  part  of  the  besieging  army  was  immediately  embarked 
for  Spain  under  C.  Claudius  Nero.  Being  joined  by  the 
troops  there,  he  advanced  against  Hasdrubal,  whom  he  en- 
closed in  a  valley ;  but  the  Carthaginian,  by  pretending  to 
treat,  contrived  to  get  his  troops  out  of  it  by  degrees,  and 
then  bade  defiance  to  the  bafliled  Roman. 

Spain,  where  the  chief  resources  of  the  enemy  lay,  was 
now  of  equal  importance  with  Italy  in  the  eyes  of  the  Ro- 
man people,  and  comitia  were  held  for  appointing  a  procon- 
sul to  take  the  command  of  the  army  there.  No  candidates 
presented  themselves  :  the  people  were  dejected  ;  when  sud- 
denly P.  Scipio,  the  son  of  Publius  who  had  fallen  in  Spain, 
a  young  man  of  only  four-and-twenty  years  of  age,  came 
forward  and  sought  the  command.  It  was  voted  to  him 
unanimously  ;  but  soon,  when  the  people  thought  of  his 
age,  and  of  the  ill-fortune  of  his  family  in  Spain,  they  be- 
gan to  repent  of  their  precipitation.  Scipio  then  called  an 
assembly,  and  spoke  in  such  a  manner  on  these  points  as 
completely  reassured  them,  and  changed  their  fears  into 
confidence. 

We  have  already  seen  Scipio  distinguish  himself  at  the 
Ticinus,  and  after  the  battle  of  Cannae.  His  was  destined 
to  be  one  of  the  greatest  names  in  Roman  story.  To  the 
advantages  of  nature  he  joined  such  arts  as  were  calculated 
to  raise  him  in  the  eyes  of  the  people.  From  the  day  on 
which  he  assumed  the  virile  toga,  he  never  did  any  thing 

*  According  to  the  historian  Coelius  (Liv.  xxvi.  11)  this  was  Han- 
nibal's routes,  not  from  Rome. 
20 


6^0  HISTORY   OF    ROiME. 

either  public  or  private  without  first  ascending  the  Capitol, 
entering  the  temple,  and  sitting  there  for  some  time  alone. 
Hence  an  opinion  spread  among  the  vulgar  that,  like  Alex- 
ander the  Great,  he  was  of  divine  origin,  and  some  even 
talked  of  a  huge  serpent  that  used  to  be  seen  in  his 
mother's  chamber,  and  which  always  vanished  when  any 
one  entered.  These  things  Scipio  never  either  affirmed  or 
denied,  and  thus  enjoyed  the  advantage  of  the  popular  be- 
lief. As  a  man,  a  statesman,  and  a  general,  his  deeds  will 
best  display  his  character. 

Having  received  an  additional  force  of  ten  thousand  foot 
and  one  thousand  horse,  with  M.  Junius  Silanus  as  proprae- 
tor under  him,  Scipio  sailed  for  Spain.  He  landed  at  Em- 
porioB,  and  having  gone  thence  to  Tarraco,  held  a  meeting 
of  the  deputies  of  the  allies ;  he  then  visited  the  troops  in 
their  quarters,  and  bestowed  great  praises  on  them  for  their 
gallant  conduct.  To  the  brave  Marcius  he  showed  the  most 
marked  favor.  As  it  was  now  late  in  the  year,  he  returned 
to  Tarraco  for  the  winter. 

In  Greece,  this  year,  M.  Valerius  Laevinus  formed  a  treaty 
of  alliance  with  the  iEtolians  against  king  Philip. 

While  Lsevinus  was  absent  in  Greece,  he  was  chosen  con- 
sul with  Marcellus  for  the  ensuing  year.  The  army  was  re- 
duced to  twenty-one  legions,  by  discharging  those  who  had 
served  a  long  time.  On  the  proposal  of  Laevinus,  when 
pay  was  not  to  be  had  for  the  seamen,  and  private  persons 
murmured  at  being  called  on  to  supply  rowers  as  before, 
the  senators  set  the  example,  in  which  they  were  followed 
by  all  orders,  of  giving  their  plate  and  jewels  for  the  service 
of  the  state;  and  an  abundant  supply  was  thus  obtained. 

Early  in  the  spring  (542)  Scipio  set  out  from  Tarraco, 
and  crossed  the  Ebro  at  the  head  of  an  army  of  twenty- 
five  thousand  foot  and  two  thousand  five  hundred  horse. 
The  fleet  under  C.  LsbHus,  having  arrived  at  the  mouth  of 
that  river,  sailed  thence  along  the  coast,  Laslius  alone  know- 
ing its  destination;  and  it  entered  the  port  of  New  Carthage 
just  as  the  army  appeared  before  the  walls.  Scipio  had  re- 
solved to  open  the  campaign  by  the  siege  of  this  important 
town,  where  all  the  money,  arms,  and  stores  of  the  enemy 
lay ;  and,  what  was  of  still  more  consequence,  where  the 
hostages  of  the  native  princes  were  kept.* 

The  town  of  New  Carthage  was  thus  situated.      On  the 

•  This  siege  is  related  by  Polybius,  lib.  x. 


TAKING  OF  NEW  CARTHAGE.  231 

east  coast  of  Spain  a  bay,  somewhat  more  than  five  hundred 
paces  wide,  runs  for  about  the  same  length  into  the  land ;  a 
small  island  at  its  mouth  shelters  it  from  every  wind  but 
the  south-east.  At  the  bottom  of  the  bay  an  elevated  pen- 
insula advances,  on  which  the  town  was  built.  The  sea  is 
deep  on  the  east  and  south  side  of  it ;  on  the  west,  and 
partly  on  the  north,  it  is  so  shallow  as  to  resemble  a  marsh, 
varying  in  depth  with  the  tide.  An  isthmus,  two  hundred 
and  fifty  paces  long,  led  from  the  town  to  the  main  land. 

Scipio,  having  secured  his  camp  in  the  rear,  attempted  to 
take  the  town  by  escalade  on  the  land  side,  but  the  ladders 
proved  too  short,  and  the  walls  being  vigorously  defended, 
he  sounded  a  retreat.  After  a  little  time  he  ordered  those 
who  had  not  been  engaged  to  take  the  ladders  and  renew 
the  attack.  It  was  now  midday,  and  the  retiring  sea, 
combined  with  a  strong  wind  from  the  north,  had  rendered 
the  marsh  quite  shallow.  Scipio,  learning  this  circumstance, 
represented  it  as  a  visible  interference  of  the  gods,  and 
ordered  a  party  of  five  hundred  men  to  take  Neptune  as 
their  leader,  and  wade  through  the  marsh  to  the  town. 
They  easily  accomplished  this  task  ;  and  as  the  wall  on  that 
side  was  low  and  without  guards,  they  penetrated  into  the 
town,  and  rushing  to  the  gate,  on  the  side  where  the  rest  of 
the  army  was  making  its  attack,  forced  it  open.  The  wall 
was  now  scaled  at  all  points ;  the  soldiers  poured  in  and 
slaughtered  all  they  met,  till  the  citadel  surrendered,  when 
orders  were  given  to  cease  from  the  carnage. 

Thus  was  New  Carthage  taken  in  one  day.  The  quantity 
of  naval  and  military  stores  and  of  the  precious  metals 
found  in  it  was  immense.  The  hostages  were  numerous ; 
some  accounts  said  three  hundred,  others  seven  hundred 
^nd  twenty-five ;  and  Scipio,  having  learned  from  them  to 
what  states  they  belonged,  sent  to  them  to  desire  them  to 
come  and  receive  their  hostages.  The  wife  of  Mandonius, 
the  brother  of  Indibilis,  who  was  one  of  them,  then  came 
and  besought  him  to  have  a  due  regard  for  the  honor  of 
the  daughters  of  Indibilis  and  other  noble  maidens  who 
were  among  the  hostages,  and  the  young  hero  gave  them  in 
charge  to  an  officer  of  well-known  honor  and  integrity. 

Among  the  captives  was  a  maiden  of  distinguished  beauty. 
When  led  by  the  soldiers  before  the  conqueror,  he  inquired 
who  and  whence  she  was ;  and  finding,  among  other  things, 
that  she  was  betrothed  to  a  Celtiberian  prince,  named  Al- 
lucius,  he  sent  to  summon  her  parents  and  her  lover.     On 


232  HISTORY   OF   ROME. 

their  arrival  he  first  spoke  with  AUucius,  and  assured  him 
that  the  maiden,  while  in  his  hands,  had  been  treated  with 
the  same  respect  as  if  she  had  been  in  her  father^s  house. 
In  return,  he  asked  him  to  become  the  friend  of  the  Roman 
people.  The  prince  grasped  his  hand,  and  with  tears  as- 
sured him  of  his  gratitude.  The  parents  arid  relatives  of 
the  maiden  were  then  called  in,  and  finding  that  she  was 
to  be  released  without  ransom,  they  pressed  Scipio  to  receive 
as  a  gift  the  gold  they  had  brought.  He  yielded  to  their 
instances;  the  gold  was  laid  at  his  feet;  he  then  called 
Allucius,  and  desired  him  to  take  it  as  an  addition  to  his 
bride's  dower.*  The  grateful  Spaniard  on  his  return  home 
extolled  the  magnanimity  of  Scipio  to  the  skies,  and  having 
raised  a  body  of  one  thousand  four  hundred  horse  came 
and  joined  him  shortly  after.  Scipio  sent  Laslius  home  with 
the  prisoners  and  tidings  of  his  success,  and  then  led  his 
troops  back  to  Tarraco. 

The  consul  Marcellus  had  meantime  recovered  the  town 
of  Salapia  in  Apulia,  and  taken  by  storm  two  Samnite  towns. 
But  the  proconsul  Cn.  Fulvius,  venturing  to  give  battle  to 
Hannibal  near  Herdonia,  sustained  a  total  defeat.  Himself 
and  eleven  tribunes,  and  seven  thousand  —  or,  according  to 
some,  thirteen  thousand  —  men,  fell  in  the  action.  Mar- 
cellus hastened  and  engaged  Hannibal  at  Numistro  in  Lu- 
cania;  the  battle,  which  lasted  all  through  the  day,  was 
indecisive;  Hannibal  then  retired  by  night  into  Apulia, 
whither  Marcellus  followed  him,  but  nothing  of  moment 
occurred. 

An  embassy  came  at  this  time  from  Syphax  to  form  a 
friendship  with  the  Roman  people.  It  was  received  with 
great  favor,  and  envoys  bearing  gifts  sent  back  with  it. 
Two  ambassadors  were  also  sent  to  Egypt  to  renew  the 
friendship  with  the  king  of  that  country. 

The  consuls  of  the  following  year  (543)  were  Q,.  Fabius 
Maximus  and  Q,.  Fulvius  Flaccus.     Fabius,  being  resolved  to 

*  This  is  told  in  a  much  less  romantic  manner  by  Polybius.  He  says 
that  some  young  Romans  brought  the  maiden  to  Scipio.  He  thanked 
them,  and  said'  that  nothing  could  be  more  agreeable  to  him  if  he 
were  a  private  person  than  such  a  gifTt,  but  that  his  office  of  general 
did  not  allow  him  to  accept  it.  He  then  sent  for  her  father,  and 
giving  her  to  him  desired  him  to  match  her  with  whichever  of  the 
citizens  he  preferred.  Polybius,  who  omits  no  occasion  of  extolling 
the  Scipios,  could  hardly  have  known  any  thing  of  the  Prince  Allu- 
cius. Indeed,  in  the  latter  case,  the  maiden  must  have  been  a  hostage, 
which  lessens  Scipio's  merit.  ^ 


RETAKING  OF  TARENTUM.  233 

reduce  Tarentum  if  possible,  besought  his  colleague  and  Mar- 
cellus  to  keep  Hannibal  in  occupation ;  and  Marcellus,  who 
deemed  himself  alone  able  to  cope  with  that  great  general, 
gladly  took  the  field.  They  came  to  an  engagement  near 
Canusium,  which  was  terminated  by  night.  Next  day  it  was 
renewed,  and  the  Romans  were  defeated  with  the  loss  of  two 
thousand  seven  hundred  men.  Marcellus,  having  severely 
rebuked  and  punished  his  men,  led  them  out  again  the  fol- 
lowing day,  and  after  a  bloody  conflict  they  remained  victo- 
rious. The  loss  of  the  enemy  is  said  to  have  been  eight  thou- 
sand slain  and  five  elephants,  that  of  the  Romans  three  thou- 
sand slain  and  a  great  number  wounded.  Hannibal  retired 
thence  to  Bruttium. 

Fabius,  on  coming  to  Tarentum,  fixed  his  camp  at  the 
mouth  of  the  harbor,  and  prepared  to  assail  it  by  machines 
worked  on  ship-board,  as  Marcellus  had  done  at  Syracuse ; 
but  treachery  enabled  him  to  take  the  town  with  less  hazard. 
The  garrison  was  composed  of  Bruttians,  left  there  by  Hanni- 
bal, and  its  commander  was  in  love  with  the  sister  of  a  man 
in  the  army  of  Fabius.  This  man,  with  the  consul's  consent, 
went  into  the  town  as  a  deserter,  and  by  means  of  his  sister 
induced  the  Bruttian  to  betray  it.  On  the  appointed  night 
the  trumpets  sounded  from  the  ships,  the  citadel,  and  camp, 
as  for  a  general  assault ;  and  Fabius,  who  had  secretly  gone 
round  with  a  select  body  of  troops  to  the  east  side,  was  ad- 
mitted over  the  wall  by  the  Bruttians.  The  town  was  speed- 
ily won  :  the  booty  was  immense  ;  but  Fabius  abstained  from 
taking  the  pictures  and  statues,  which  nearly  equalled  those 
of  Syracuse  in  number  and  value,  Hannibal,  who  was  has- 
tening to  its  relief,  on  hearing  that  it  was  taken,  said,  "  The 
Romans  have  their  Hannibal.  We  have  lost  Tarentum  in 
the  same  way  that  we  gained  it." 

Scipio,  having  spent  the  winter  in  forming  alliances  with 
the  native  princes,  crossed  the  Ebro  early  in  the  spring  of 
this  year.  Near  the  town  of  Baecula  he  found  Hannibal's 
brother,  Hasdrubal,  strongly  encamped  on  an  eminence,  with 
the  river  Tagus  in  his  rear.  But  the  valor  of  the  Roman 
soldiers  led  by  Scipio  overcame  all  obstacles,  and  Hasdrubal 
was  routed  with  the  loss  of  eight  thousand  men  slain,  and 
twelve  thousand  taken  in  his  camp.  Among  these  last  was 
a  youth,  the  nephew  of  Masinissa  the  Numidian,  whom 
Scipio  treated  with  great  kindness,  and  sent  safe  to  his  uncle. 
In  imitation  of  Hannibal's  policy,  he  gave  their  liberty  to  all 

20*  DD 


S34  HISTORY   OF    ROME. 

the  Spaniards,  but  sold  the  Africans  for  slaves.     He  then 
returned  to  Tarraco. 

The  consuls  of  the  ensuing  year,  (544,)  Marcellus  and  T. 
Quinctius  Crispinus,  were  joined  in  command  against  Han- 
nibal. Crispinus,  having  made  an  ineffectual  effort  to  take 
Locri,  proceeded  to  Apulia  to  join  his  colleague,  and  the  two 
consuls  encamped  about  three  miles  asunder,  between  Venusia 
and  Bantia.  Hannibal  came  from  Bruttium,  and  took  up  a  po- 
sition near  them.  There  was  an  eminence  covered  with  wood 
between  his  camp  and  those  of  the  Romans,  and  expecting 
that  the  latter  would  seek  to  occupy  it,  he  sent  in  the  night 
some  of  his  Numidians  to  lie  in  ambush  on  it.  The  general 
cry  in  the  Roman  camp  was  to  secure  this  hill,  lest  Hannibal 
should  get  possession  of  it ;  and  to  comply  with  the  wishes 
of  their  men  the  consuls  themselves  set  out  with  a  party  of 
two  hundred  and  twenty  horse  tO  explore  it.  When  they  had 
gone  a  little  way  up  the  hill  they  were  suddenly  assailed  on 
all  sides  by  the  Numidians,  and  Marcellus  was  killed  ;  Cris- 
pinus escaped  badly  wounded.  Hannibal  instantly  occupied 
the  height,  and  Crispinus  retired  the  following  night  and  en- 
camped in  the  mountains.  The  Punic  general  gave  honor- 
able sepulture  to  the  body  of  his  rival ;  but  having  gotten 
his  ring,  he  resolved  to  derive  what  advantage  he  could  from 
it,  and  he  wrote  in  his  name  to  the  people  of  Salapia,  by  a  de- 
serter, to  say  that  he  would  come  thither  the  following  night. 
Crispinus,  however,  had  prudently  sent  to  all  the  towns  to  in- 
form them  of  his  colleague's  death,  and  to  warn  them  against 
letters  sealed  with  his  ring.  The  attempt  on  Salapia,  there- 
fore miscarried,  and  Hannibal  returned  to  Bruttium,  where 
he  forced  the  Romans  to  raise  the  siege  of  Locri. 

While  Hannibal  was  thus  engaged,  his  brother  Hasdrubal 
was  on  his  march  from  Spain  to  join  him.  After  the  victories 
gained  by  Scipio,  and  the  influence  he  had  obtained  over  the 
minds  of  the  natives,  the  Carthaginians  began  to  consider 
their  cause  in  that  country  as  nearly  hopeless ;  and,  as  Han- 
nibal had  long  been  urgent  for  succors,  it  was  resolve^  that 
Hasdrubal  should  lead  an  army  into  Italy.  He  was  prepar- 
ing to  do  so  at  the  time  when  he  sustained  the  defeat  from 
Scipio  above  related;  but  as  he  had  before  the  battle  placed 
his  elephants  and  treasure  in  safety,  he  retired  to  the  north 
coast  of  Spain,  and  there  enlisted  a  large  body  of  Celtibe- 
rians ;  and  as  Scipio  had  sent  troops  to  guard  the  eastern 
passage  of  the  Pyrenees,  he  entered  Gaul  at  the  west  side, 


236  HISTOBT   OF   ROME. 

he  would  wish  them  to  join  him  by  day  or  by  night,  and 
whether  they  should  enter  his  camp,  or  encamp  separately. 
Livius  desired  them  to  enter  his  camp  in  secret,  and  by 
night ;  and  he  arranged  that  the  officers  should  receive  the 
officers,  the  men  the  men,  of  Nero's  army  into  their  tents, 
so  that  the  camp  need  not  be  enlarged,  and  the  enemy  might 
be  thus  kept  in  ignorance  of  their  arrival.  As  Livius  was 
encamped  near  the  colony  of  Sena,  about  half  a  mile  from 
the  Punic  camp,  Nero  halted  in  the  neighboring  mountains 
till  night  came,  and  he  then  entered  the  consul's  camp.  A 
council  of  war  was  held  next  day,  at  which  the  praetor  L. 
Porcius,  who  had  followed  Hasdrubal  along  the  hills,  and  who 
was  now  encamped  near  the  consul,  assisted.  Most  were  for 
a  delay  of  a  few  days  to  rest  Nero's  men,  but  he  himself  was 
decidedly  against  this  course,  lest  Hannibal,  having  learned 
how  he  had  been  deceived  should  be  enabled  to  join  his 
brother.     It  was  therefore  resolved  to  give  battle  at  once. 

The  suspicions  of  Hasdrubal  were  aroused  when  he  saw 
the  old  shields  of  a  part  of  the  Roman  soldiers,  and  marked 
that  their  horses  were  leaner  than  usual,  and  the  number  of 
the  men  was  increased.  He  sent  some  down  to  where  the 
Romans  used  to  water,  to  observe  if  any  of  them  were  sun- 
burnt as  off  a  journey  ;  and  others  to  go  round  their  camp, 
and  discover  if  it  had  been  enlarged,  and  if  the  trumpet 
was  blown  twice  or  only  once.  They  reported  that  it  was 
blown  twice  in  one  camp,  once  in  the  other ;  and  though 
they  had  remarked  no  change  in  the  size,  the  wary  general 
became  convinced  that  the  other  consul  must  be  there,  and 
he  began  to  fear  that  his  brother  had  sustained  a  decisive 
defeat;  still,  thinking  his  letters  might  have  been  intercept- 
ed, he  resolved  to  decamp  in  the  night  and  fall  back  into 
Gaul,  and  there  wait  till  he  had  some  sure  tidings  of  Han- 
nibal. He  therefore  set  out  early  in  the  night ;  but  his 
guides  made  theit  escape,  and  he  vainly  sought  a  ford  in  the 
river  Metaurus,  which  increased  in  depth  as  it  approached 
the  sea.  In  the  morning  the  Roman  army  came  up,  and 
Hasdrubal  could  no  longer  decline  an  engagement. 

The  Roman  army  consisted  of  45,000  men.  Livius  led 
the  left,  Nero  the  right  wing,  Porcius  the  centre.  Hasdru- 
bal's  forces  exceeded  60,000  men ;  he  placed  his  Spanish 
troops,  himself  at  their  head,  on  the  right ;  the  Gauls,  pro- 
tected by  a  hill,  on  the  left;  the  Ligurians  in  the  centre, 
with  the  elephants  in  their  front.  The  conflict  between 
Livias  and  Hasdrubal  was  severe.     Claudius,  finding  that 


¥ 


DEFEAT  OF  HASDKUBAL  ON  THE  METAURUS.   237 

the  hill  prevented  him  from  attacking  the  Gauls,  took  some 
cohorts  round  in  the  rear  and  fell  on  the  left  flank  of  the 
Spaniards  and  Ligurians,  who,  being  thus  assailed  on  all 
sides,  gave  way ;  the  Gauls  were  also  attacked,  and  easily 
routed ;  the  elephants  were  mostly  killed  by  their  own  dri- 
vers. Hasdrubal,  who  had  performed  all  the  parts  of  an 
able  general,  seeing  the  battle  lost,  spurred  his  horse,  and 
rushing  into  the  midst  of  a  Roman  cohort,  died  as  became 
the  son  of  Hamilcar  and  the  brother  of  Hannibal.  This 
victory  nearly  compensated  for  Cannse ;  56,000  men,  we  are 
told,  lay  dead;  5400  were  taken  :  the  loss  of  the  victors  was 
8000  men.* 

That  very  night  Nero  set  out,  and  reached  his  camp  on 
the  sixth  day,  bearing  with  him  the  head  of  Hasdrubal, 
which,  with  a  refinement  of  barbarity,  he  caused  to  be  flung 
to  the  guards  of  Hannibal's  camp,  and  he  sent  some  of  his 
prisoners  in  with  the  intelligence.  Hannibal,  struck  with 
both  the  public  and  private  calamity,  cried,  "  I  see  the  doom 
of  Carthage ; "  and  instantly  removed  to  the  extremity  of 
Bruttium,  being  resolved  to  act  merely  on  the  defensive. 


CHAPTER    VI. 

SUCCESSES    OF    SCIPIO  IN    SPAIN. MUTINY    IN    HIS    ARMY. 

CARTHAGINIANS  EXPELLED  FROM  SPAIN. SCIPIO'S  RE- 
TURN TO  ROME. HIS  PREPARATIONS  FOR  INVADING  AFRI- 
CA.  INVASION    OF    AFRICA. HORRIBLE  DESTRUCTION  OF 

A  PUNIC  ARMY. DEFEAT  OF  THE  CARTHAGINIANS. AT- 
TACK  ON    THE  ROMAN  FLEET. DEATH  OF  SOPHONISBA. 

RETURN    OF    HANNIBAL. INTERVIEW    OF    HANNIBAL    AND 

SCIPIO. BATTLE  OF  ZAMA. END  OF  THE  WAR. 

The  war  in  Italy  may  now  be  regarded  as  terminated ;  in 
Greece  also  little  of  importance  occurred ;  Spain  alone  at- 
tracts attention.  In  this  country,  Hasdrubal  the  son  of  Gisco, 
and  Hanno  and  Mago  sustained  the  Punic  cause.  Against 
these  last  two,  who  had  combined  their  forces,  Scipio  sent  his 

*  Livy,  xxvii.  49.  Polybius  (xi.  3)  makes  the  slain  oft  one  side 
10,000,  on  the  other  2000  men. 


238  HISTORY   OP   ROME. 

legate  Silanus,  who  defeated  them  and  took  Hanno  prisoner  j 
he  also  sent  his  brother  Lucius  Scipio  to  lay  siege  to  a 
strong  town  named  Oringis,  and  after  a  stout  defence  it  was 
taken. 

The  following  year  (546)  Hasdrubal  and  Mago,  having 
raised  an  army  of  fifty  thousand  foot  and  four  thousand  five 
hundred  horse,  took  their  position  at  a  p^ace  named  Silpia 
in  Baetica,  and  prepared  to  give  the  Romans  battle.  Scipio 
mov6d  from  Tarraco  to  Castulo,  and  thence  to  Baecula,  near 
which  he  encamped.  His  army  now  amounted  to  forty-five 
thousand  men.  The  Punic  army  came  and  encamped  near 
him,  and  for  several  successive  days  they  stood  in  array 
without  venturing  to  engage.  At  length  Scipio,  having 
changed  the  disposition  of  his  forces  without  the  knowledge 
of  the  enemy,  brought  them  to  an  engagement,  and  com^ 
pletely  routed  them.  Most  of  their  Spanish  troops  went 
over  to  the  Romans,  and  Mago,  decamping  in  the  night, 
hastened  away  to  Gades.  The  Romans  pursued,  and  the 
sword  and  desertion  reduced  his  army  to  nought.  Scipio 
then  returned  to  Tarraco,  leaving  Silanus  in  the  vicinity  of 
Gades. 

Masinissa  took  occasion  at  this  time  to  have  a  secret 
interview  with  Silanus,  in  which  he  expressed  his  desire  to 
be  on  friendly  terms  with  the  Romans.  Scipio,  as  the  Punic 
power  was  now  at  an  end  in  Spain,  began  to  think  of  trans- 
ferring the  war  to  Africa.  He  therefore  sent  Laelius  with 
presents  to  Syphax  ;  and,  at  the  desire  of  this  prince  to  hold 
a  personal  conference  with  him,  he  himself  crossed  over 
to  Africa.  Hasdrubal  happened  to  enter  the  same  port 
a  little  time  before  him,  and  the  two  hostile  generals  were 
placed  on  the  same  couch  at  the  entertainment  given  them 
by  the  king.  Having  formed  a  treaty  of  alliance  with  Sy- 
phax, Scipio  returned  to  New  Carthage. 

After  the  death  of  the  two  Scipios,  the  cities  of  Illiturgis 
and  Castulo  had  gone  over  to  the  enemy,  and  the  people  of 
the  former  had  added  to  their  defection  the  guilt  of  mur- 
dering the  Romans  who  had  sought  refuge  with  them.  The 
time  was  now  come  for  taking  the  long-meditated  ven- 
geance :  Scipio  sent  L.  Marcius  with  one  third  of  the  army 
against  Castulo,  while  he  himself  sat  down  before  Illiturgis 
with  the  remainder.  The  Illiturgians,  knowing  they  had  no 
mercy  to  look  for,  made  a  most  obstinate  defence ;  but  the 
African  deserters  in  the  Roman  service,  having  secretly 
scaled  a  part  which,  from  its  height,  was  left  unguarded,  the 


SUCCESSES    OF    SCIPIO    IN    SPAIN.  939 

town  was  taken.  Men,  women,  and  children  Were  slaugh- 
tered without  mercy  or  distinction  ;  the  town  was  burnt,  and 
all  traces  of  it  effaced.  The  fate  of  Ca^tulo  was  less  severe, 
as  a  party  there  betrayed  the  town  and  the  Punic  garrison 
into  the  hands  of  the  Romans.  Marcius  then  crossed  the 
Baetis,  and  laid  siege  to  a  town  named  Astapa,  whose  inhab- 
itants lived  mostly  by  plunder.  Their  town  was  not  strong, 
and  they  knew  that  they  had  no  favor  to  expect.  They 
resolved  to  perish  nobly;  and  collecting  in  their  market  all 
their  valuable  property,  they  piled  it  up,  and  making  their 
women  and  children  sit  on  the  pile,  they  heaped  wood  and 
fagots  around  them.  They  set  fifty  armed  youths  to  guard 
it,  charging  them,  when  they  saw  the  town  on  the  point  of 
being  taken,  to  destroy  all  there  with  the  sword  and  fire. 
They  then  opened  the  gates  and  rushed  forth ;  they  drove  off 
the  horse  and  light  troops :  the  legions  had  to  come  out 
against  them,  and  at  length,  overwhelmed  by  numbers,  they 
all  perished.  The  fifty  young  men  then  drew  their  swords, 
slaughtered  the  women  and  children,  threw  their  bodies  on 
the  pile,  set  fire  to  it,  and  flung  themselves  into  the  flames. 
Such  was  the  end  of  Astapa. 

Some  time  after,  Scipio  happened  to  fall  sick,  and  the 
Spanish  princes  Indibilis  and  Mandonius  immediately  seized 
arms  and  wasted  the  lands  of  the  Roman  allies.  A  mutiny 
also  broke  out  in  the  Roman  camp  at  Sucro,  (Xucar.)  The 
men  complained  of  being  detained  in  Spain,  and  of  their 
pay  being  withheld;  and  on  hearing  a  false  rumor  of  the 
death  of  Scipio,  they  drove  away  their  officers  and  gave  the 
command  to  tvyo  common  soldiers.  But  when  they  learned 
he  was  still  alive,  their  courage  fell,  and  they  consented, 
seeing  they  had  no  chance  of  being  able  to  resist,  to  go  to 
New  Carthage,  and  submit  themselves  to  their  general,  with 
whose  leniency  they  were  well  acquainted.  They  entered  the 
town  at  sunset,  and  saw  all  the  other  troops  preparing  to 
march  that  night  against  the  Spaniards.  This  sight  filled 
them  with  joy,  as  they  thought  they  should  now  have  their 
general  in  their  power.  The  other  troops  marched  out  at 
the  fourth  watch  of  the  night ;  but  they  had  orders  to  halt 
outside  the  town,  and  all  the  gates  were  secured. 

In  the  morning  Scipio  mounted  his  tribunal  in  the  market, 
and  summoned  the  mutineers  before  him.  They  came  pre- 
pared with  fierce  mien  and  insolent  words,  hoping  to  bully 
him ;  but  when  they  saw  his  healthy  looks,  and  found  that  the 
other  troops  had  reentered  the  town  and  were  now  surround- 


240  HISTORY  OF    ROME. 

ing  them,  while  they  were  unarmed,  their  spirits  sank.  Scipio 
sat  in  silence  till  he  heard  that  the  ringleaders,  who  had  been 
secured  in  the  night,  were  at  hand  and  that  dl  was  ready.  He 
then  rose  and  addressed  them,  reproaching  them  with  their 
mutiny,  and  concluded  by  offering  pardon  to  all  but  their 
leaders.  The  soldiers  behind  clashed  their  swords  on  their 
shields;  the  crier's  voice  was  heard  proclaiming  the  names  of 
the  condemned ;  they  were  dragged  forth  naked,  thirty-five 
in  number,  bound  to  the  stake,  scourged  and  beheaded,  their 
comrades  in  guilt  not  daring  even  to  utter  a  groan.  The 
mutineers  were  made  to  renew  their  military  oath,  and  they 
then  received  their  arrears  of  pay. 

When  Scipio  had  reduced  his  troops  to  obedience,  he  took 
the  field  against  Indibilis  and  Mandonius,  and  having  given 
them  a  decisive  defeat,  granted  them  peace  on  their  giving 
a  large  sum  of  money  for  the  pay  of  the  Roman  army.  He 
then  proceeded  toward  Gades  to  meet  Masinissa,  who  was 
anxious  to  have  a  personal  conference  with  him. 

The  Numidian  prince  had  been,  as  we  have  seen,  for 
some  time  wavering  in  his  faith  to  Carthage.  It  is  said  * 
that  injured  love  was  the  motive  that  now  decided  him  to 
revolt.  He  had  been  educated  at  Carthage,  where  Hasdru- 
bal,  the  son  of  Gisco,  pleased  with  his  noble  qualities,  had 
promised  him  the  hand  of  his  daughter  Sophonisba,  the 
most  lovely,  accomplished,  and  highly  endowed  maiden  of  her 
time.  He  had  attended  his  future  father-in-law  to  Spain, 
and  shown  himself  worthy  of  the  honor  designed  him.  But 
Syphax  was  also  an  admirer  of  the  fair  Sophonisba,  and  the 
desire  of  withdrawing  this  powerful  prince  from  his  alliance 
with  the  Romans  overcame  all  sense  of  justice  and  honor 
in  the  minds  of  the  Carthaginian  senate,  and,  as  it  would 
seem,  of  Hasdrubal  himself,  and  Sophonisba  was  given  to 
him  as  the  condition  of  his  becoming  the  ally  of  Carthage. 
Masinissa,  stung  by  jealousy,  resolved  to  join  the  Romans  ; 
and  pretending  to  Mago  that  the  horses  were  injured  by  the 
confinement  in  the  island  (Isla  de  Leon)  in  which  Gades  lay, 
he  obtained  his  permission  to  pass  over  on  a  plundering  ex- 
cursion to  the  main  land.  He  here  had  an  interview  with 
Scipio,  and  pledged  himself  to  the  cause  of  Rome. 

Orders  now  came  from  Carthage  for  Mago  to  collect  all 
his  troops  and  ships,  and  sail  to  the  north  of  Italy,  and  rais- 
ing there  an  army  of  Ligurians  and  Gauls,  to  endeavor  to 

*  Appian,  Pun.  viii.  37.    Zonaras,  ix.  11. 


SCIPIO'S    RETURN   TO   ROME.  241 

join  his  brother  Hannibal.  Money  was  sent  him  for  this 
purpose,  and  to  this  he  added  what  was  in  the  treasury  and 
temples  at  Gades,  and  the  forced  contributions  of  the  citizens. 
In  consequence  of  this,  when,  after  the  failure  of  a  nocturnal 
attempt  on  New  Carthage,  he  returned  to  Gades,  he  found 
the  gates  closed  against  him,  and  on  his  retiring,  the  '  city 
was  surrendered  to  the  Romans.  As  it  was  now  the  end 
of  autumn,  he  took  up  his  winter  quarters  in  the  lesser  of 
the  Baleares,  (Minorca.) 

Scipio,  having  thus  in  five  years  achieved  the  conquest  of 
Spain,  now  returned  to  Rome.  The  senate  gave  him  au- 
dience, according  to  custom,  at  the  temple  of  Bellona,  with- 
out the  city,  and  he  gave  a  full  account  of  his  exploits. 
He  had  some  hopes  of  being  allowed  to  triumph ;  but  as  this 
honor  had  hitherto  been  restricted  to  those  who  were  magis- 
trates, he  did  not  urge  his  claim.  At  the  ensuing  comitia, 
he  was  unanimously  chosen  consul  for  the  next  year  (547) 
with  P.  Licinius  Crassus,  who  was  at  this  time  great 
pontiff. 

Aware  of  the  feeble  hold  which  the  Carthaginians  had  on 
the  affections  of  their  African  subjects  and  allies,  and  recol- 
lecting the  ease  with  which  Agathocles  and  Regulus  had 
brought  them  to  the  brink  of  ruin,  Scipio  was  resolved,  if 
possible,  to  transfer  the  war  to  their  own  shores.  He  was 
therefore  desirous  of  having  Africa  assigned  for  his  province, 
and  he  made  no  secret  of  his  intention  of  appealing  to  the 
people  if  refused  by  the  senate.  Thelatter  body  were  highly 
offended  ;  some  were  envious  of  Scipio,  others  really  dubious 
of  the  policy  of  invading  Africa  while  Hannibal  was  in  Italy, 
Among  these  last  was  Q,.  Fabius  Maximus,  who  spoke  at 
great  length  against  Scipio's  plan.  Scipio  replied ;  Q,.,  Ful- 
vius  then  demanded  of  him  if  he  would  leave  the  decision 
of  the  provinces  to  the  Fathers ;  Scipio's  answer  was  ambig- 
uous ;  Fulvius  appealed  to  the  tribunes,  and  they  declared  that 
they  would  intercede.  Scipio  then  demanded  a  day  to  con- 
sult with  his  colleague,  and  it  ended  by  the  decision  being 
left  to  the  Fathers,  and  their  assigning  Bruttium  to  one 
consul  and  Sicily  to  the  other,  with  permission  to  pass 
over  to  Africa  if  he  deemed  it  for  the  advantage  of  the 
state. 

The  senate,  being  thus  obliged  to  give  way,  vented  their 
spleen  by  refusing  Scipio  leave  to  levy  troops,  and  by  refus- 
ing atso  to  be  at  the  expense  of  fitting  out  the  fleet  he  might 
require.     He  did  not  press  them ;  he  only  asked  to  be  al- 

21  BE 


242  HISTORY   OF    ROME. 

lowed  to  take  volunteers  and  free-will  offerings.  This  could 
not  well  be  refused:  the  various  peoples  of  Etruria  then  con- 
tributed the  materials  for  building  and  equipping  ships;  they 
also  gave  corn  and  arms ;  the  Umbrians,  Sabines,  and  the 
Marsian  League  sent  numerous  volunteers;  the  Camertiansa 
complete  cohort  fully  armed.  Forty-five  days  after  the  trees 
for  the  purpose  had  been  felled,  a  fleet  of  thirty  ships,  fully 
equipped,  was  afloat.  Scipio  then  passed  over  to  Sicily, 
where  he  regimented  his  volunteers,  keeping  three  hundred 
youths,  the  flower  of  them,  about  him,  unarmed  and  ignorant 
of  their  destination.  He  soon  after  selected  three  hundred 
young  Sicilians  of  good  family,  and  directed  them  to  be  with 
him  on  a  certain  day,  fully  equipped  to  serve  as  cavalry. 
They  came;  but  the  idea  of  service  was  death  to  these  ef- 
feminate youths  and  to  their  parents  and  relatives.  Scipio 
then  offered  to  provide  them  substitutes  if  they  did  not  wish 
to  serve.  They  gladly  embraced  his  offer :  he  appointed  the 
three  hundred  youths  to  take  their  place ;  the  Sicilians  had 
to  supply  them  with  horses  and  arms,  and  have  them  taught 
to  ride ;  and  thus  Scipio  acquired  without  any  expense  a  valu- 
able body  of  horse.  He  then  draughted  the  best  soldiers  from 
the  legions  there,  especially  those  who  had  served  under  Mar- 
cellus,  and  went  to  Syracuse  for  the  winter.  Lselius  passed 
with  a  part  of  the  fleet  over  to  Africa,  and  landing  at  Hippo 
Regius  plundered  the  adjacent  country.  He  was  here  joined 
by  Masinissa,  who  having  been  driven  out  of  his  paternal 
kingdom  by  Syphax,  was  lurking  with  a  few  horsemen  about 
the  Lesser  Syrtis.  LsbHus  then  returned  with  his  booty  to 
Sicily. 

In  the  course  of  this  summer  Mago  sailed  from  the  Baleares, 
and  landed  with  12,000  foot  and  2000  horse  at  Genua,  on 
the  coast  of  Liguria;  and  when  Laelius  had  apj)eared  in  Af- 
rica the  Punic  senate  sent  him  a  reenforcement  of  6000  foot, 
800  horse,  seven  elephants,  and  a  large  sum  of  money,  with 
directions  to  lose  no  time  in  hiring  Gauls  and  Ligurians,  and 
to  endeavor  to  effect  a  junction  with  Hannibal  as  soon  as 
possible,  and  thus  give  the  Romans  employment  at  home. 
In  Spain,  Indibilis  and  Mandonius  excited  some  of  the  native 
peoples  to  arms  against  the  Romans;  but  they  were  defeated 
and  obliged  to  sue  for  peace.  In  Greece,  a  peace  was  con- 
cluded with  the  king  of  Macedonia. 

The  consulate  of  Scipio  having  expired,  his  command,  as 
was  usual,  was  prolonged  for  the  ensuing  year,  (548,)  and 
the  eyes  of  all  men  were  turned  to  the  fine  army  which  he 


INVASION    OF    AFRICA.  243 

had  assembled  for  the  conquest  of  Africa.  Authorities  dif- 
fer respecting  the  number  of  his  forces,  but  they  could  hardly 
have  been  less  than  thirty-five  thousand  men,  horse  and  foot. 
They  embarked,  taking  with  them  provisions  for  forty-five 
days;  the  transports  sailed  in  the  centre;  on  the  right  were 
twenty  ships  of  war  under  Scipio  himself  and  his  brother 
Lucius,  and  an  equal  number  on  the  left  under  Laelius  and 
M.  Fortius  Cato  the  quaestor;  each  transport  carried  two 
lights,  each  ship  of  war  one,  the  general's  ship  three;  the 
pilots  were  directed  to  steer  for  the  Emporia  on  the  Syrtes. 
The  fleet  left  Lilybseum  at  daybreak,  and  next  morning  it 
was  off  the  Hermaic  cape.  Scipio's  pilot  proposed  to  land 
there,  but  he  directed  him  to  keep  to  the  left.  A  fog  however 
came  on,  and  the  wind  fell ;  during  the  night  a  contrary 
wind  sprang  up,  and  at  dawn  they  found  themselves  off  the 
Cape  of  Apollo,  on  the  west  side  of  the  bay  of  Carthage,  not 
far  from  Utica,  and  here  they  landed  and  encamped. 

The  consternation  was  great  in  Carthage  when  it  was  known 
that  the  formidable  Scipio  was  actually  landed  in  Africa. 
Orders  were  sent  to  Hasdrubal,  who  was  away  collecting  troops 
and  elephants,  to  hasten  to  the  defence  of  his  country,  and 
envoys  were  despatched  to  Syphax  for  a  similar  purpose.  Has- 
drubal's  son  Hanno  was  directed  to  take  a  station  with  four 
thousand  horse  about  fift;een  miles  from  the  Roman  camp  to 
protect  the  open  country ;  but  Masinissa,  who  was  now  with 
Scipio,  drew  him  to  where  the  Roman  horse  stood  covered 
by  some  hills,  and  nearly  all  his  men  were  slain  or  taken. 
He  was  himself  made  a  prisoner,  and  afterwards  exchanged 
for  Masinissa's  mother.  Scipio  and  Masinissa  now  laid  the 
country  waste  without  opposition,  and  they  set  at  liberty 
a  great  number  of  Roman  captives  who  were  working  as 
slaves  in  the  fields.  They  laid  siege  to  a  large  town  named 
Lacha ;  the  scaling-ladders  were  placed,  when  the  people  sent, 
offering  to  surrender ;  Scipio  ordered  the  trumpet  to  sound 
the  recall :  the  soldiers  heeded  it  not,  the  town  was  stormed, 
and  a  general  slaughter  commenced.  To  punish  his  men, 
Scipio  deprived  them  of  all  their  booty,  and  he  put  to  death 
three  of  the  most  guilty  tribunes.  Hasdrubal,  who  was  now 
at  hand  with  an  army  of  20,000  foot,  7000  horse,  140  ele- 
phants, made  an  attack  on  the  Romans,  but  was  driven  off 
with  the  loss  of  5000  slain  and  1800  prisoners. 

Scipio,  wishing  to  have  a  strong  town  as  a  place  of  arms 
and  for  winter  quarters,  now  laid  siege  to  Utica:  he  had 
brought  all  the  necessary  machines  from  Sicily ;  but  the  Uti- 


244  HISTORY    OF    ROME. 

cans  defended  themselves  gallantly  and  after  assailing  the  town 
for  forty  days  he  was  forced  to  give  over  the  siege.  He  with- 
drew, and  fixed  his  winter  camp  on  a  rocky  peninsula,  which 
ran  out  into  the  sea,  to  the  east  of  that  town.  Hasdruhal 
encamped  in  the  vicinity,  as  also  did  Syphax,  the  former  with 
30j000  foot  and  3000  horse,  the  latter  with  50,000  foot  and 
10,000  horse,  but  they  made  no  attempt  on  the  Roman 
camp. 

During  the  winter  Scipio  entered  into  negotiations  with 
Syphax,  in  hopes  of  detaching  him  from  the  Carthaginians,* 
but  the  Numidian  would  not  hear  of  revolt;  he  proposed 
that  the  one  party  should  evacuate  Italy,  the  other  Africa, 
and  both  remain  as  they  were.  Scipio  at  first  would  not 
listen  to  these  terms ;  but  when  some  of  those  whom  he  had 
sent  to  Syphax  told  him  how  the  huts  in  the  Punic  camp 
were  formed  of  wood  and  leaves,  while  those  of  the  Numid- 
ians  were  of  reeds,  or  they  lay  on  simple  leaves,  and  many  of 
them  without  the  camp,  he  conceived  the  horrible  project  of 
setting  fire  to  both  the  camps  in  the  night,  and  massacring 
the  troops  amidst  the  flames.  He  feigned  therefore  to  hearken 
to  the  proposal  of  Syphax ;  messengers  went  constantly  to  and 
fro,  and  even  remained  for  days  on  each  side;  and  Scipio  took 
care  to  send  with  them  some  of  his  most  intelligent  soldiers, 
disguised  as  slaves,  who  were  to  observe  the  position  and 
form  of  the  camps. 

When  the  spring  came,  (559,)  Scipio,  having  gained  all 
the  knowledge  he  required,  launched  his  ships  and  put  his 
machines  aboard  as  if  to  renew  his  attacks  on  Utica,  and  he 
fortified  an  eminence  near  the  town  which  he  had  occupied 
before,  and  placed  on  it  a  body  of  two  thousand  men,  osten- 
sively  to  act  against  the  town,  but  in  reality  to  prevent  an 
attempt  on  his  camp  by  the  garrison  during  his  absence. 
He  then  sent  envoys  to  Syphax  to  know  if  the  Carthaginians 
had  made  up  their  minds  to  agree  to  the  terms  arranged 
between  them,  and  the  envoys  had  orders  not  to  return 
without  a  categorical  answer.  Syphax,  now  quite  certain 
of  the  Roman's  sincerity,  sent  to  Hasdrubal,  and  receiving 
a  perfectly  satisfactory  reply,  joyfully  dismissed  Scipio's 
envoys.  But  to  his  great  mortification  others  came  almost 
immediately,  to  say  that  Scipio  himself  was  well  content  to 
make  peace  on  these  terms,  but  that  his  council  would  not 
on  any  account  accede  to  them.  This  was  all  done  by  Scipio 
in  order  to  clear  himself  from  the  guilt  of  breach  of  truce, 

•  Polybius,  xiv.  1—6.  Livy,  zxx.  3—6. 


HORRIBLE  DESTRUCTION  OF  A  PUNIC  ARMY.   245 

in  making  an  attack  while  negotiations  for  peace  were 
going  on. 

Syphax  and  Hasdrubal,  little  suspecting  the  atrocious 
design  of  the  Roman  general,  having  consulted  together, 
agreed  to  offer  him  battle  at  once.  But  Scipio  about  mid- 
day assembled  his  ablest  and  most  trusty  tribunes,  and 
having  communicated  to  them  his  plan,  (which  had  hitherto 
been  a  most  profound  secret,)  directed  them,  when  the 
trumpets  sounded  as  usual  after  supper  for  setting  the  guards, 
to  lead  their  men  out  of  the  camp.  He  then  sent  for  those 
who  had  acted  as  spies,  and  examined  them  as  to  the  state 
of  the  enemies'  camps  in  the  presence  of  Masinissa.  At 
night,  when  all  was  ready  he  set  out,  at  the  end  of  the  first 
watch,  and  reaching  the  hostile  camps  by  the  end  of  the  third 
watch,  he  divided  his  forces,  giving  one  half  of  the  soldiers 
and  all  the  Numidians  to  Laelius  and  Masinissa,  with  orders 
to  attack  the  camp  of  Syphax,  while  he  himself  led  the  rest 
of  the  army  against  that  of  Hasdrubal. 

Laelius  and  Masinissa  having  divided  their  troops,  the 
latter  went  and  stationed  his  men  at  all  the  avenues  of  the 
camp,  while  the  former  set  fire  to  it.  The  flames,  which 
spread  rapidly,  roused  Syphax  and  his  people  from  their 
sleep,  and  having  no  doubt  that  the  fire  was  accidental,  they 
endeavored,  naked  as  they  were,  to  get  out  of  the  camp  ;  but 
several  were  burnt  to  death,  others  trampled  down  in  the 
rush-out,  and  those  who  got  out  were  cut  to  pieces  by  Mas- 
inissa's  soldiers.  Those  in  the  other  camp,  when  they  saw 
the  flames,  also  took  them  to  be  accidental,  and  some  has- 
tened to  give  assistance,  while  the  rest  came  and  stood  out- 
side of  the  camp  gazing  on  the  conflagration.  All  were 
alike  fallen  on  and  slaughtered  by  the  Romans,  who  at  the 
same  time  set  fire  to  their  camp.  Here  also  the  flames 
spread  in  all  directions;  in  both  camps  men,  horses,  and 
beasts  of  burden  were  to  be  seen,  some  perishing  in  the 
flames,  others  rushing  through  them,  and  all  over  the  plain 
naked,  unarmed  fugitives  pursued  and  slaughtered  by  their 
ruthless  foes;  of  so  many  myriads*  but  about  2000  foot  and 
500  horse  escaped,  with  Hasdrubal  and  Syphax. 

**  Scipio,"  says  Polybius,  "  performed  many  great  and 
glorious  actions,  but,  in  my  opinion,  this  was  the  boldest 
and  most  glorious  he  ever  achieved."     Yet  what  was  it  in 

*  According  to  Livy,  40,000  men  perished  by  the  flames  or  by  the 
21* 


246  HISTORT  OF    ROME. 

reality  but  a  tissue  of  treachery,  duplicity,  and  cruelty  ?  By 
a  pretended  negotiation  the  suspicions  of  the  enemy  were 
lulled  to  rest,  and  an  opportunity  gained  for  spying  out  their 
camps,  and  then  they  were  secretly  assailed  and  set  fire  to  at 
the  hour  when  all  in  them  were  asleep.  Such  a  treacherous 
and  cowardly  procedure  may  be  worthy  of  a  leader  of  pirates 
or  bandits,  but  it  was  surely  disgraceful,  at  the  least,  to  the 
general  of  a  great  republic. 

Hasdrubal  fled  first  to  a  town  in  the  vicinity,  and  thence 
to  Carthage,  where  opinions  were  divided;  some  were  for 
suing  for  peace,  others  for  recalling  Hannibal,  others  for 
raising  more  troops,  calling  again  on  Syphax,  and  continuing 
the  war.  This  last  opinion  prevailed.  Syphax,  yielding  to 
the  tears  and  entreaties  of  his  lovely  wife,  and  encouraged 
by  the  appearance  of  a  fine  body  of  four  thousand  Celtiberians 
who  were  just  arrived,  consented  to  make  new  levies,  and  in 
the  space  of  thirty  days  a  combined  army  of  30,000  men 
encamped  on  the  Great  Plain  five  days'  march  from  Utica. 
Scipio,  leaving  the  siege  of  this  town,  advanced  to  engage 
them.  After  three  days'  skirmishing  a  general  action  com- 
menced :  the  Roman  army  was  drawn  up  with  the  Italian 
horse  on  the  right,  the  Numidians  on  the  left  wing.  The 
Celtiberians  were  in  the  centre  of  the  opposite  army,  the 
Carthaginians  on  the  right,  the  Numidians  on  the  left.  The 
last  two  gave  way  at  the  first  shock ;  the  Celtiberians  fought 
nobly,  and  perished  to  the  last  man.  After  the  battle  Scipio 
held  a  council,  and  it  was  decided  that  Laelius  and  Masinissa 
should  pursue  Syphax,  while  Scipio  employed  himself  in 
reducing  the  Punic  towns,  many  of  which  readily  surren- 
dered, for  the  heavy  impositions  which  had  been  laid  on 
them  during  the  war  had  made  them  lukewarm  in  their  alle- 
giance. 

In  Carthage  it  was  now  resolved  to  send  to  recall  Hanni- 
bal, to  strengthen  the  defences  of  the  city,  and  to  send  out  a 
fleet  to  attack  that  of  the  Romans  at  Utica.  Scipio  mean- 
time advanced  and  occupied  Tunis,  a  town  within  view  of 
Carthage,  at  a  distance  of  about  fifteen  miles.  While  here, 
he  saw  the  Punic  fleet  putting  to  sea,  and  fearing  for  his  own, 
he  led  his  troops  back  to  Utica.  As  his  ships  of  war  were 
not  in  a  condition  for  fighting,  being  prepared  for  battering 
the  town,  he  drew  them  up  close  to  the  shore,  placing  the 
transports  three  and  four  deep  outside  of  them,  with  their 
masts  and  yards  laid  across  them,  and  tied  together  and  cov- 
ered with  planks ;  and  he  set  about  one  thousand  men  to 


ATTACK    ON    THE    ROMAN    FLEET.  247 

defend  them.  Had  the  Carthaginians  come  up  while  all  was 
in  confusion,  they  might  have  done  much  injury,  but  they 
loitered  so  that  they  did  not  appear  till  the  second  day,  and 
with  all  their  efforts  they  only  succeeded  in  dragging  away 
six  of  the  transports. 

Lselius  and  Masinissa  reached  Numidia  on  the  fifteenth 
day,  and  the  Massylians  gladly  received  their  native  prince. 
But  Syphax  having  collected  another  army  came  and  gave 
them  battle,  and  was  again  defeated,  and  having  fallen  from 
his  horse,  that  was  wounded,  he  was  made  prisoner.  Mas- 
inissa then  pressed  on  for  Syphax's  capital,  named  Cirta, 
which  surrendered  when  assured  of  that  prince's  captivity. 
Here  as  he  entered  the  palace  he  met  Sophonisba,  who 
falling  at  his  feet  implored  him  to  put  her  to  death  rather 
than  give  her  up  to  the  Romans.  The  prince's  love  revived, 
and  as  the  only  means  of  saving  her  from  the  Romans  he 
resolved  to  espouse  her  that  very  day.  The  wedding  was 
celebrated  before  the  arrival  of  Laelius,  who  was  highly  in- 
dignant at  it,  and  was  even  going  to  drag  her  from  him,  but 
he  conceded  to  the  tears  of  the  prince  that  the  decision 
should  rest  with  Scipio. 

When  Syphax  was  brought  before  Scipio  he  threw  the 
whole  blame  of  his  change  of  policy  on  Sophonisba,  and 
probably  out  of  jealousy,  assured  him  that  her  influence  over 
Masinissa  would  produce  similar  effects.  This  sank  deep  in 
the  mind  of  the  politic  Roman  ;  and,  when  Masinissa  arrived, 
he  lectured  him  gravely  on  his  conduct,  and  insisted  on  his 
giving  up  Sophonisba.  The  lover  burst  into  tears,  and 
prayed  to  be  permitted,  as  far  as  was  possible,  to  keep  his 
promise  to  his  bride ;  he  then  retired  to  his  tent,  and  having 
given  way  to  an  agony  of  grief,  called  a  trusty  servant  who 
kept  the  poison  with  which  monarchs  in  those  times  were 
always  provided,  desired  him  to  bear  it  to  Sophonisba,  and 
tell  her,  that  unable  to  keep  the  first  part  of  his  promise  he 
thus  performed  the  second,  and  it  was  for  her  to  act  as 
became  the  daughter  of  Hasdrubal  and  the  spouse  of  two 
kings.  The  servant  hastened  to  Cirta.  "  I  accept  the  nup- 
tial gift,"  said  Sophonisba,  "no  ungrateful  one,  if  a  husband 
could  give  his  wife  nothing  better.  Tell  him  only  this,  that 
I  should  have  died  with  more  glory  if  I  had  not  married  on 
the  eve  of  death."  So  saying  she  took  the  bowl  and  drained 
it.*     Scipio,  now  relieved  from  his  apprehensions,  sought  to 

*  Livy,  and  probably  Polybius,  says  nothing  of  the  previous  love  of 
Masinissa.     According  to  Appian,  as  he  approached  Cirta,  Sophonisba 


248  HISTORY   OP    ROME* 

console  Masinissa ;  he  publicly  gave  him  the  title  of  Icings 
and,  after  the  Roman  custom,  presented  him  with  the  regal 
insignia.  Syphax  was  sent  to  Rome,  and  he  died  soon  after 
at  Tibur.  The  senate  and  people  confirmed  the  honors 
bestowed  by  Scipio  on  Masinissa. 

Scipio  now  returned  to  Tunis,  whither  came  an  embassy 
from  Carthage  suing  for  peace,  and  throwing  all  the  blame 
of  the  war  on  Hannibal.  The  terms  he  proposed  were  the 
withdrawal  of  all  their  troops  from  Italy,  Gaul,  Spain,  and 
the  islands,  their  giving  up  ail  their  ships  of  war  but  twenty, 
delivering  500,000  measures  of  wheat  and  200,000  of  barley, 
and  paying  a  large  sum  of  money.  He  gave  them  three  days 
to  consider  of  them ;  at  the  end  of  that  time  a  truce  was 
made  to  enable  them  to  send  to  Rome. 

Meantime  Hannibal  and  M ago  had  both  been  recalled. 
The  latter  having  been  worsted  in  a  severe-fought  battle  in 
Insubrian  Gaul,  and  wounded  in  the  thigh,  was  glad  to  leave 
Italy ;  he  embarked  his  troops ;  but  he  died  of  his  wound 
when  off  Sardinia,  and  several  of  his  ships  were  taken  by  the 
Romans.  Hannibal,  it  is  said,  groaned  when  he  received 
the  order  to  return ;  and  as  he  departed,  looking  back  on 
the  shores  of  Italy,  where  he  had  spent  so  many  years,  he 
cursed  his  own  folly  in  not  having  marched  for  Rome  after 
the  victory  at  Cannae.  This  last  circumstance  proves  that 
we  have  not  here  a  true  account,  for  Hannibal  could  not 
have  blamed  himself  for  acting  right ;  and  as  he  must  have 
been  by  this  time  perfectly  sure  that  under  the  present  cir- 
cumstances the  conquest  of  Italy  was  become  hopeless,  his 
groans,  if  any,  were  not  for  his  recall,  but  for  the  occasion 
of  it.     He  landed  his  troops  at  Leptis. 

The  Punic  envoys  received  a  dubious  answer  at  Rome, 
and  before  they  returned  the  truce  had  been  broken;  for  a 
number  of  ships  laden  with  supplies  from  Sicily  for  the  Ro- 
man army,  being  driven  into  the  bay  of  Carthage,  the  Car- 
thaginians seized  them ;    and  when  Scipio  sent   envoys  to 

sent  to  tell  him  that  she  had  been  obliged  to  marry  Syphax.  Masinissa 
left  her  at  Cirta.  Scipio  very  roughly  ordered  him  to  give  her  up,  and 
not  to  attempt  to  deprive  the  Romans  of  a  part  of  their  booty.  The 
prince  then  set  out  with  some  Romans  as  if  to  fetch  her,  and  contriving 
to  see  Ker  alone  handed  her  a  bowl  of  poison,  and  telling  her  that  she 
must  drink  it  or  become  a  slave  to  the  Romans,  gave  spurs  to  his  horse 
and  left  her.  She  drank  it :  and  Masinissa  having  shown  the  Romans 
her  dead  body,  buried  her  as  a  queen.  See  also  Zonaras,  ix.  13.  At 
all  events,  Scipio's  conduct  was  that  of  the  politician,  not  of  the  man 
of  generous  feelings. 


RETURN    OF    HANNIBAL.  249 

complain,  they  narrowly  escaped  personal  ill  treatment,  and 
as  they  returned  their  vessel  was  attacked  within  view  of  the 
Roman  camp  by  a  Punic  ship  of  war,  and  most  of  the  crew 
slain.  Notwithstanding  this  breach  of  faith,  Scipio  dismissed 
in  safety  the  Punic  envoys  when  they  reached  his  camp  on 
their  return  from  Rome. 

The  war  was  resumed,*  (550,)  and  the  Carthaginians,  con- 
scious of  wrong,  resolved  to  strain  every  nerve.  Hannibal 
had  now  advanced  to  Adrumetum,  whither  numerous  volun- 
teers repaired  to  him,  and  he  engaged  a  large  body  of 
Numidian  cavalry.  Urged  then  by  the  pressing  instances  of 
the  people  of  Carthage,  he  advanced  to  Zama,  a  town  about 
five  days'  march  to  the  west  of  that  city,  whence  he  sent  three 
spies  to  learn  where  and  how  the  Romans  were  encamped. 
These  spies  were  taken  and  led  before  Scipio;  but,  like 
Xerxes,t  he  had  them  conducted  all  through  his  camp  and 
then  dismissed  in  safety.  Struck  by  this  conduct,  which 
evinced  such  confidence  in  his  own  strength,  Hannibal  pro- 
posed a  personal  interview,  in  hopes,  while  his  forces  were 
still  unimpaired,  that  he  should  be  able  to  obtain  better  terms 
for  his  country.  The  Roman  did  not  decline  the  interview, 
but  said  he  would  appoint  the  time  for  it  to  take  place.  He 
was  joined  next  day  by  Masinissa  with  six  thousand  foot  and 
four  thousand  horse ;  and  he  advanced  and  encamped  near  a 
town  named  Naragara,  whence  he  sent  to  inform  Hannibal 
that  he  was  ready  to  confer  with  him.  The  Punic  general 
came  and  encamped  on  a  hill  about  four  miles  off;  and  next 
day  each  set  out  from  his  camp  with  a  few  horsemen,  and 
then  leaving  their  attendants  at  a  little  distance  they  met,  an 
interpreter  alone  being  present.  Hannibal  commenced  by 
expressing  his  wish  that  the  one  people  had  never  gone  oiit 
of  Africa,  or  the  other  out  of  Italy,  —  their  natural  domin- 
ions. He  reminded  Scipio  of  the  instability  of  fortune,  of 
which  he  was  himself  so  notable  an  instance,  and  concluded 
by  offering  on  the  part  of  Carthage  to  cede  Spain  and  Sicily, 
Sardinia,  and  all  the  other  islands  to  the  Romans.  Scipio 
commenced  by  attempting  to  justify  the  conduct  of  the  Ro- 
mans in  entering  Sicily  and  Spain  as  the  defenders  of  their 
allies.  He  dwelt  on  the  late  breach  of  faith  at  the  moment 
when  the  Roman  senate  and  people  had  consented  to  a  peace ; 


*  We  have  the  narrative  of  Polybius  (xv.  3 — 19)   hence  to  the  end 
of  the  war. 

t  History  of  Greece,  p.  107,  2d  edit. 

FF 


250  HISTORY    OF    ROME. 

and  said  that  if  the  less,  advantageous  terms  now  proposed 
were  agreed  to,  it  would  be  a  premium  on  bad  faith.  Victory 
or  unconditional  submission  alone  remained  for  Carthage. 
The  conference  thus  terminated,  and  each  general  retired  to 
prepare  for  battle. 

At  dawn  the  next  day  the  two  armies  were  drawn  out  for 
the  conflict  which  was  to  decide  the  fate  of  Carthage. 
Never  were  two  more  eminent  generals  opposed  to  each 
other ;  Hannibal  the  greatest,  not  merely  of  his  own,  but,  per- 
haps of  any  age,  Scipio  inferior  only  to  Hannibal.  In  num- 
ber of  troops  the  advantage  was  on  the  side  of  the  former,* 
but  they  were  mostly  raw  levies,  and  only  those  who  had 
served  in  Italy  could  vie  in  steadiness  and  discipline  with  the 
troops  led  by  the  Roman. 

Scipio  drew  up  his  troops  in  the  usual  manner,  but  instead 
of  placing  the  maniples  of  the  Principes  opposite  the  inter- 
vals of  those  of  the  Hastats,  he  set  them  directly  behind 
them,  thus  leaving  open  passages  through  his  lines  for  the 
elephants  to  run  through.  Ii;i  these  intervals  he  placed  the 
Velites,  or  light  troops,  directing  them  to  begin  the  action, 
and  if  oppressed  by  the  elephants  to  retire  through  the  in- 
tervals to  the  rear,  or  if  they  could  not  do  so  to  fall  into  the 
cross-intervals.  The  Italian  cavalry  under  Laslius  was  sta- 
tioned on  the  left,  Masinissa  and  his  Numidians  on  the  right 
wing.  Hannibal  placed  his  elephants  (of  which  he  had 
eighty)  in  front ;  behind  them  his  Ligurian,  Gallic,  Balearic, 
and  Moorish  mercenaries,  twelve  thousand  in  number ;  after 
these  the  Africans  and  Carthaginians;  and  then,  at  the  dis- 
tance of  somewhat  more  than  a  furlong,  the,  troops  he  had 
brought  from  Italy.f  It  was  on  these  last  that  he  placed  his 
chief  reliance ;  the  mercenaries  were  put  in  front  to  weary 
the  Romans,  if  with  nothing  else,  with  slaughtering  them ; 
the  Carthaginians  in  the  middle,  that  they  might  be  obliged, 
willing  or  not,  to  fight :  the  Punic  horse  were  on  the  right, 
the  Numidian  on  the  left  wing. 

Each  general  having  encouraged  his  men,  the  battle  com- 

*  Appian  (viii.  40,41)  gives  the  total  of  the  Punic  force  50,000  men, 
that  of  the  Romans  23,000  foot  and  1500  horse,  exclusive  of  the  Nu- 
midians. 

t  Livy  makes  a  curious  mistake  here.  Finding  in  his  Polybius 
rovi;  *S  'Irai-'iac.  ijxovTag  ut&^  tavrov,  he  renders  it  by  "  aciem  Italico- 
rum  militum  {Bruttii  plerique  erant,  vi  ac  necessitate  plures,  qnam  sua 
Toluntate,  decedentem  ex  Italia  sequuti)  instruxit."  It  is  manifest  from 
Polybius  (XV.  11,  6 — 13)  that  ihey  were  his  veteran  troops. 


BATTLE    OF    ZAMA.  /       ?  251 

menced  with  the  skirmishing  of  the  Numidian  horse.  Han- 
nibal then  ordered  the  elephants  to  advance ;  but  the  Romans 
blew  their  horns  and  trumpets,  and  some  of  the  animals, 
terrified  at  the  clangor,  ran  to  the  left,  where  they  threw 
their  own  horse  into  such  confusion  that  they  could  not 
stand  before  that  of  Masinissa ;  the  rest  rushed  on  the  Ro- 
man Velites,  where  they  did  and  received  much  injury  :  at 
length,  maddened  by  the  noise  and  their  wounds,  they  ran 
part  through  the  intervals  of  the  Roman  lines,  part  to  the 
right,  where,  by  the  confusion  they  caused,  they  rendered 
easy  the  victory  of  Laelius  over  the  Punic  horse. 

The  infantry  on  both  sides  now  advanced  ;  the  three  lines 
of  the  Romans  supporting  each  other,  while  the  timid  Car- 
thaginians let  their  front  line  go  forward  alone.  These  mer- 
cenaries fought  bravely,  and  killed  and  wounded  many  of  the 
Romans ;  but  at  length  they  were  forced  to  give  way  before 
the  close  steady  orders  of  the  Romans,  and  fall  back  on  their 
second  line;  and  enraged  at  the  cowardice  of  the  Africans, 
they  treated  them  as  enemies.  .  The  Carthaginians,  thus  as- 
sailed at  the  one  time  by  the  Romans  and  by  their  own 
mercenaries,  gathered  courage  from  despair,  and  fought  with 
desperation.  They  threw  the  Hastats  into  confusion ;  the 
Principes  then  advanced  against  them  ;  the  slaughter  of  them 
and  their  mercenaries  was  immense :  Hannibal  would  not 
allow  the  fugitives  to  mingle  with  his  reserve,  and  they  were 
obliged  to  scatter  over  the  plain. 

The  bodies  and  arms  of  the  slain  lay  in  such  heaps  that  it 
was  difficult  for  the  Roman  troops  to  move  forward  in  regu- 
lar order  over  them.  Scipio  therefore,  having  sounded  the 
recall  for  the  Hastats,  who  were  in  pursuit  of  the  flying  foes, 
made  them  form  beyond  the  heaps  of  slain ;  then  increasing 
the  depth  of  the  Principes  and  Triarians  on  the  wings,  he 
advanced  with  them  over  the  dead  bodies,  and  on  coming  up 
with  the  Hastats  led  the  whole  force  against  Hannibal's  re- 
serve. It  was  now  that  the  battle  might  be  said  to  commence 
in  reality.  The  numbers  were  nearly  equal,*  their  arms  the 
same,  their  courage  and  discipline  alike.  Long  was  the 
contest  doubtful ;  at  length  fortune,  or  rather  the  destiny  of 
Rome,  favored  the  Romans.  Laelius  and  Masinissa  return- 
ing from  the  pursuit  fell  on  the  rear  of  Hannibal's  troops, 
and  thus  assailed  in  front  and  rear  they  were  forced  to  give 
way.    The  loss  of  the  Carthaginians  in  this  battle  was 

*  Polybius.    Yet  it  can  hardly  be  true. 


252  HISTOBT    OF    ROME. 

20,000  slain,  and  nearly  an  equal  number  taken ;  that  of  the 
victors  was  from  1500  to  2000  men.  Hannibal  having,  both 
before  and  after  the  battle,  by  the  confession  of  Scipio  him- 
self and  the  military  men  of  all  ages,  done  ail  that  was  in 
man  to  secure  the  victory,  fled  with  a  few  horsemen  to 
Adrumetum,  whence  at  the  call  of  the  government  he  pro- 
ceeded to  Carthage,  which  he  had  not  seen  since  he  left  it 
six-and-thirty  years  before.  He  advised  to  sue  for  peace,  as 
he  declared  himself  to  be  beaten  not  merely  in  a  battle  but 
in  the  war,  —  meaning  that  the  resources  of  Carthage  were 
all  exhausted. 

Scipio,  having  taken  the  enemy's  camp,  led  his  army  back 
to  Utica,  where  finding  a  Roman  fleet  arrived,  he  sent  Laeli- 
us  home  with  the  news  of  his  victory ;  and  desiring  his  legate 
Octavi us  to  lead  the  troops  by  land  to  Carthage,  he  sailed 
himself  with  the  fleet  for  the  port  of  that  city.  When  he 
came  near  it,  he  met  a  ship  adorned  with  olive-branches,  on 
board  of  which  were  ten  noble  Carthaginians  come  to  sue 
for  peace.  He  desired  them  to  meet  him  at  Tunis,  whither 
he  repaired  when  he  had  taken  a  personal  survey  of  the  bay 
of  Carthage.  When  the  Puttie  envoys  came,  he  held  a 
council  of  war ;  all  voices  were  at  first  for  destroying  Car- 
thage ;  but  Scipio,  aware  of  the  length  and  difficulty  of  the 
siege,  and  also  apprehensive  of  a  successor  coming  out  to  rob 
him  of  his  glory,  declared  for  peace,  and  his  officers  readily 
acquiesced  in  his  views.  After  reprehending  the  Cartha- 
ginians for  their  breach  of  faith,  he  offered  peace  on  the 
following  conditions.  The  Carthaginians  to  retain  all  they 
had  possessed  in  Africa  before  the  war ;  to  make  good  the 
losses  caused  by  their  seizure  of  the  ships  during  the  late 
truce ;  to  give  up  all  deserters  and  prisoners,  and  all  their 
long  ships  and  elephants  but  ten  ;  not  to  make  war  either  in 
or  out  of  Africa  without  the  consent  of  the  Romans;  to 
restore  all  his  possessions  to  Masinissa ;  to  give  three  months' 
corn  to  the  Roman  army,  and  pay  till  an  answer  should  come 
from  Rome ;  to  pay  10,000  talents  at  the  rate  of  two  hundred 
a  year  ;  and  to  give  one  hundred  hostages,  between  the  ages 
of  fourteen  and  thirty  years,  to  be  selected  by  the  Roman 
general. 

When  the  deputies  returned  to  Carthage  with  these  terms, 
one  of  the  senators,  it  is  said,  rose  to  object  to  them,  but 
Hannibal  went  and  dragged  him  down  from  the  pulpit.  An 
outcry  being  raised  at  this  breach  of  decorum,  Hannibal 
agaio  stood  up  and  excused  himself  on  the  score  of  his 


MACEDONIAN   WAR.  253 

ignorance,  on  account  of  his  long  absence  from  home.  He 
then  strongly  urged  to  accept  of  peace  on  the  terms  pro- 
posed. His  advice  was  followed  ;  the  peace  was  confirmed 
by  the  Roman  senate  and  people ;  and  thus,  after  a  duration 
of  seventeen  years,  was  terminated  the  second  Punic  war. 

Scipio  having  led  home  his  victorious  army  entered  Rome 
in  triumph.  He  derived  from  his  conquest  the  title  of  Afri- 
canus,  it  is  not  known  how  conferred,  and  his  was  the  first 
example  of  the  kind  known  at  Rome.* 


CHAPTER  VH. 

MACEDONIAN  WAR. FLIGHT  OP  HANNIBAL    FROM    CARTHAGE. 

ANTIOCHUS  IN  GREECE. INVASION  OF  ASIA  AND  DEFEAT 

OF    ANTIOCHUS. DEATH    OP    HANNIBAL. LAST    DAYS    OF 

SCIPIO. CHARACTERS    OF    HANNIBAL    AND    SCIPIO. WAR 

WITH  PERSEUS  OF  MACEDONIA. CONQUEST  OP  MACEDONIA. 

TRIUMPH  OF  iEMILIUS  PAULUS. 

The  victory  of  Zama  gave  the  Romans  the  dominion  of  the 
West ;  the  ambitious  senate  then  aspired  to  that  of  the  East, 
and  the  king  of  Macedonia  was  selected  as  the  first  object 
of  attack.  The  people,  wearied  out  with  service  and  con- 
tributions, were  with  some  difficulty  induced  to  give  their 
consent ;  and  war  was  declared  against  Philip  under  the 
pretext  of  his  having  injured  the  allies  of  Rome,  namely,  the 
Athenians,  and  the  kings  of  Egypt  and  Pergamus.f 

Philip  after  the  late  peace  had  been  assiduous  in  augment- 
ing his  fleet  and  army ;  but  instead  of  joining  Hannibal 
when  he  was  in  Italy,  he  employed  himself,  in  conjunction 
with  Antiochus  king  of  Syria,  in  seizing  the  islands  and  the 
towns  on  the  coast  of  the  JEgean,  which  were  under  the 
protection  of  Egypt,  whose  king  was  now  a  minor.  This 
engaged  him  in  hostilities  with  the  king  of  Pergamus  and 
the  Rhodians.  A  Roman  army,  under  the  consul  Sulpicius, 
passed  over  to  Greece,  (552 ;)  the  iEtolians  declared  against 

*•  Livy,  XXX.  45.    See  above,  p.  85. 

t  For  this  war  and  the  following  events  see  the  History  of  Greece. 


S54  HISTORY   OF   ROME. 

Philip,  and  gradually  the  BcBOtians  and  Achaeans  were  in- 
duced to  follow  their  example.  Philip  made  a  gallant 
resistance  against  this  formidable  confederacy ;  but  the  con- 
sul T.  Quinctius  Flamininus  gave  him  at  length  (555)  a 
complete  defeat  at  Cynoscephalae  in  Thessaiy,  and  he  was 
forced  to  sue  for  peace,  which,  however,  he  obtained  on 
much  easier  terms  than  might  have  been  expected,  as  the 
Romans  were  on  the  eve  of  a  war  with  the  king  of  Syria. 
The  peace  with  Philip  was  followed  by  the  celebrated  proc- 
lamation at  the  Isthmian  Games  of  the  independence  of 
those  states  of  Greece  which  had  been  under  the  Macedonian 
dominion ;  for  the  Romans  well  knew  that  this  was  the  in- 
fallible way  to  establish  their  own  supremacy,  as  the  Greeks 
would  be  sure  never  to  unite  for  the  common  good  of  their 
country. 

After  an  interval  of  a  few  years,  the  long-expected  war 
with  Antiochus  the  Great  of  Syria  broke  out.  The  imme- 
diate occasion  of  it  was  the  discontent  of  the  iEtolians,  who 
being  mortally  offended  with  the  Romans  sent  to  invite  him 
into  Greece.  He  had  been  for  three  years  making  prepara- 
tions for  the  war,  and  he  had  now  at  his  service  the  greatest 
general  of  the  age,  if  he  had  known  how  to  make  use  of  him. 
For  Hannibal,  having  been  appointed  one  of  the  suffetes  at 
Carthage,  and  finding  the  power  of  the  judges  enormous  in 
consequence  of  their  holding  their  office  for  life,  had  a  law 
passed  reducing  it  to  one  year.  This  naturally  raised  him  a 
host  of  enemies,  whose  number  was  augmented  by  his  finan- 
cial reforms ;  for  finding  that  the  public  revenues  had  been 
diverted  into  the  coffers  of  the  magistrates  and  persons  of 
influence,  while  the  people  were  directly  taxed  to  pay  the 
tribute  to  the  Romans,  he  instituted  an  inquiry,  and  proved 
that  the  ordinary  revenues  of  the  state  were  abundantly 
sufficient  for  all  purposes.  Those  who  felt  their  incomes 
thus  reduced  sought  to  rouse  the  enmity  of  the  Romans 
against  Hannibal,  whom  they  charged  with  a  secret  cor- 
respondence with  Antiochus ;  and  though  Scipio  strongly 
urged  the  indignity  of  the  Roman  senate  becoming  the 
instrument  of  a  faction  in  Carthage,  hatred  of  Hannibal  pre- 
vailed, and  three  i§enators  were  sent  to  Carthage,  ostensively 
to  settle  some  disputes  between  the  Carthaginians  and  Masi- 
nissa.  Hannibal,  who  knew  their  real  object,  left  the  city 
secretly  in  the  night,  and  getting  on  board  a  ship  sailed  to 
Tyre.     He  thence  went  to  Antioch,  and  finding  that  Antic- 


FLIGHT    OF    HANNIBAL    FROM    CARTHAGE.  255 

chus  was  at  Ephesus,  he  proceeded  to  that  city,  where  he 
met  with  a  most  flattering  reception  from  the  monarch, (557.) 

Hannibal,  true  to  his  maxim  that  the  Romans  were  only 
to  be  conquered  in  Italy,  proposed  to  the  king  to  let  him 
have  a  good  fleet  and  ten  thousand  men,  with  which  he  would 
pass  over  to  Africa,  when  he  hoped  to  be  able  to  induce  the 
Carthaginians  to  take  arms  again ;  and  if  he  did  not  succeed, 
he  would  land  somewhere  in  Italy.  He  would  have  the  king 
meanwhile  to  pass  with  a  large  army  over  to  Greece,  and  to 
remain  there  ready  to  invade  Italy,  if  necessary.  Antiochus 
at  first  assented  to  this  plan  of  the  war ;  but  he  afterwards 
lent  an  ear  to  the  suggestions  of  Thoas  the  iEtolian,  who 
was  jealous  of  the  great  Carthaginian,  and  gave  it  up.  He 
himself  passed  over  at  length  (560)  to  Greece  with  a  small 
army  of  ten  thousand  men ;  but  instead  of  acting  at  once 
with  vigor,  he  loitered  in  Eubcea,  where  he  espoused  a 
beautiful  maiden,  wasted  his  time  in  petty  negotiations  in 
Thessaly  and  the  adjoining  country,  by  which  he  highly 
offended  king  Philip,  whom  it  was  his  first  duty  to  conciliate, 
and  thus  gave  the  consul  Acilius  Glabrio  time  to  land  his 
army  and  enter  Thessaly.  Antiochus  hastened  from  Euboea 
to  defend  the  pass  of  Thermopylae  against  him;  but  he  was 
totally  defeated,  and  forced  to  fly  to  Asia,  (561.) 

Antiochus  flattered  himself  at  first  that  the  Romans  would 
not  follow  him  into  Asia ;  but  Hannibal  soon  proved  to  him 
that  such  an  expectation  was  a  vain  one,  and  that  he  must 
prepare  for  war.  At  Rome  the  invasion  of  Asia  was  at  once 
resolved  on.  The  two  new  consuls,  C.  Lselius  and  L.  Scipio 
(562)  were  both  equally  anxious  to  have  the  conducting  of 
this  war;  the  senate  were  mostly  in  favor  of  Laelius,  an 
officer  of  skill  and  experience,  while  L.  Scipio  was  a  man 
of  very  moderate  abilities.  But  Scipio  Africanus  offering, 
if  his  brother  was  appointed,  to  go  as  his  legate,  Greece  was 
assigned  to  him  as  his  province  without  any  further  hesita- 
tion. The  Scipios  then,  having  raised  what  troops  were 
requisite,  among  which  5000  of  those  who  had  served  under 
Africanus  came  as  volunteers,  passed  over  to  Epirus  with  a 
force  of  about  13,000  men.  In  Thessaly,  Acilius  delivered 
up  to  them  two  legions  which  he  had  under  his  command, 
and  being  supplied  with  provisions  and  every  thing  else  they 
required  they  marched  through  Macedonia  and  Thrace  for 
the  Hellespont.  A  Roman  fleet  was  in  the  -^gean,^which, 
united  with  those  of  Eumenes  of  Pergamus'  and  the  Rhodi- 
ans,  proved  an  overmatch  for  that  of  Antiochus^  even  though 


256  HISTORY   OF   ROME. 

commanded  by  Hannibal.  When  the  Scipios  reached  the 
Hellespont,  they  found  every  thing  prepared  for  the  passage 
by  Eumenes.  They  crossed  without  any  opposition  ;  and  as 
this  was  the  time  for  moving  the  Ancilia  at  Rome,  P.  Scipio, 
who  was  one  of  the  Salii,  caused  the  army  to  make  a  halt 
of  a  few  days  on  that  account. 

While  they  remained  here,  an  envoy  came  from  Antiochus 
proposing  peace,  on  condition  of  his  giving  up  all  claim  to 
the  Grecian  cities  in  Asia  and  paying  one  half  of  the  ex- 
penses of  the  war.  The  Scipios  insisted  on  his  paying  all 
the  expenses  of  the  war,  as  he  had  been  the  cause  of  it,  and 
evacuating  Asia  on  this  side  of  Mount  Taurus.  The  envoy 
then  applied  privately  to  P.  Scipio,  telling  him  that  the  king 
would  release  without  ransom  his  son,  who  had  fallen  lately 
into  his  hands,  and  give  him  a  large  quantity  of  gold  and 
every  honor  he  could  bestow,  if  through  his  means  he  could 
obtain  more  equitable  terms.  Scipio  expressed  his  gratitude, 
as  a  private  person,  to  the  king  for  the  offer  to  release  his 
son;  and,  as  a  friend,  advised  him  to  accept  any  terms  he 
could  get,  as  his  case  was  hopeless.  The  envoy  retired; 
the  Romans  advanced  to  Ilium,  where  the  consul  ascended 
and  offered  sacrifice  to  Minerva,  to  the  great  joy  of  the 
Ilienses,  who  asserted  themselves  to  be  the  progenitors  of  the 
Romans.  They  thence  advanced  to  the  head  of  the  river 
Caicus.  Antiochus,  who  was  at  Thyatira,  hearing  that  P. 
Scipio  was  lying  sick  at  Elaea,  sent  his  son  to  him,  and 
received  in  return  his  thanks,  and  his  advice  not  to  engage 
till  he  had  rejoined  the  army.  As  in  case  of  defeat  his  only 
hopes  lay  in  P.  Scipio,  he  took  his  counsel,  and  retiring  to 
the  foot  of  Mount  Sipylus  formed  a  strong  camp  near  Mag- 
nesia. 

The  consul  advanced,  and  encamped  about  four  miles  off; 
and  as  the  king  seemed  not  inclined  to  fight,  and  the  Roman 
soldiers  were  full  of  contempt  ffer  the  enemy,  and  clamorous 
for  action,  it  was  resolved,  if  he  did  not  accept  the  proffered 
battle,  to  storm  his  camp.  But  Antiochus,  fearing  that  the 
spirit  of  his  men  would  sink  if  he  declined  fighting,  led  them 
out  when  he  saw  the  Romans  in  array. 

The  Roman  army,  consisting  of  four  legions,  each  of  5400 
men,  was  drawn  up  in  the  usual  manner,  its  left  resting  on  a 
river  ;  3000  Achsean  and  Pergamene  foot  were  placed  on  the 
right,  and  beyond  them  the.  horse,  about  3000  in  number ; 
sixteen  African  elephants  were  stationed  in  the  rear.  The 
army  of  Antiochus  consisted  of  62,000  foot,  12,000  horse, 


DEFEAT    OF    ANTIOCHUS.  257 

and  fifty-four  elephants.  His  phalanx  of  16,000  men  was 
drawn  up  in  ten  divisions,  each  of  fifty  men  in  rank  and 
thirty-two  in  file,  with  two  elephants  in  each  of  the  intervals. 
On  the  left  and  right  of  the  phalanx  were  placed  the  cavalry, 
the  light  troops  and  the  remainder  of  the  elephants,  the 
scythed  chariots,  and  Arab  archers,  mounted  on  dromedaries. 

When  the  armies  were  arrayed  there  came  on  a  fog, 
with  a  light  kind  of  rain,  which  relaxed  the  bow-strings, 
slings,  and  dart-thongs  of  the  numerous  light  troops  of  the 
king,  and  the  darkness  caused  confusion  in  his  long  and 
various  line.  Eumenes  also,  by  a  proper  use  of  the  light 
troops,  frightened  the  horses  of  the  scythed  chariots,  and  drove 
them  off  the  field.  The  Roman  horse  then  charged  that  of 
the  enemy  and  put  it  to  flight ;  the  confusion  of  the  left  wing 
extended  to  the  phalangites,  who,  by  their  own  men  rushing 
from  the  left  among  them,  were  prevented  from  using  their 
long  sarisscB,  and  were  easily  broken  and  slaughtered  by  the 
Romans,  who  now  also  knew  from  experience  how  to  deal 
with  the  elephants.  Antiochus,  who  commanded  in  person 
on  the  right,  drove  the  four  turms  or  troops  of  horse  opposed 
to  him,  and  a  part  of  the  foot,  back  to  their  camp ;  but  M. 
^milius,  who  commanded  there,  rallied  them.  Eumenes' 
brother,  Attains,  came  from  the  right  with  some  horse ;  the 
king  turned  and  fled  ;  the  rout  became  general ;  the  slaughter, 
as  usual,  enormous  :  the  camp  was  taken  and  pillaged.  The 
loss  of  the  Syrians  is  stated  at  53,000  slain,  1400  taken ; 
that  of  the  Romans  and  their  ally  Eumenes  at  only  350  men  ! 

All  the  cities  of  the  coast  sent  in  their  submission  to  the  con- 
sul, who  advanced  to  Sardes.  Antiochus  was  at  this  time  at 
Apamea  :  when  he  learned  that  P.  Scipio,  who  had  not  been 
in  the  battle,  was  arrived,  he  sent  envoys  to  treat  of  peace 
on  any  terms.  The  Romans  had  already  arranged  the  con- 
ditions of  peace,  and  P.  Scipio  announced  them  as  follows : 
Antiochus  should  abstain  from  Europe,  and  give  up  all  Asia 
this  side  of  Taurus ;  pay  15,000  Euboic  talents  for  the  expenses 
of  the  war,  500  down,  1500  when  the  senate  and  people  rati- 
fied the  peace,  the  remainder  in  twelve  years,  at  1000  talents 
a  year ;  give  Eumenes  400  talents  and  a  quantity  of  corn ; 
give  twenty  hostages;  and,  above  all,  deliver  up  Hanni- 
bal, Thoas  the  ^Etolian,  and  three  other  Greeks.  The  king's 
envoys  went  direct  to  Rome,  whither  also  went  Eumenes  in 
person,  and  embassies  from  Rhodes  and  other  places;  the 
consul  put  his  troops  in  winter  quarters  at  Magnesia,  Tral-* 
les,  and  Ephesus. 

22*  GG 


258  HISTORY    OF    ROME. 

At  Rome  the  peace  was  confirmed  with  Antiochus.  The 
greater  part  of  the  ceded  territory  was  granted  to  Eumenes, 
Lycia  and  part  of  Caria  to  the  Rhodians,  (whose  usually 
prudent  aristocracy  committed  a  great  error  in  seeking  this 
aggrandizement  of  their  dominion;)  and  such  towns  as  had 
taken  part  with  the  Romans  were  freed  from  tribute.  L. 
Scipio  triumphed  on  his  return  to  Rome,  and  assumed  the 
surname  of  Asiaticus,  to  be  in  this  respect  on  an  equality 
with  his  illustrious  brother. 

Cn.  Manlius  Vulso  succeeded  Scipio  in  Asia,  (563,)  and  as 
the  Roman  consuls  now  began  to  regard  it  as  discreditable 
and  unprofitable  to  pass  their  year  without  war,  he  looked 
round  him  for  an  enemy  from  whom  he  might  derive  famfe 
and  wealth.  He  fixed  on  the  Gallo-Grecians,  as  the  descend- 
ants of  those  Gauls  were  called  who  had  passed  over  into 
Asia  in  the  time  of  Pyrrhus,  and  won  a  territory  for  them- 
selves, named  from  them  in  after-times  Galatia.  He  stormed 
their  fortified  camp  on  Mount  Olympus  in  Mysia,  gave  them 
a  great  defeat  on  the  plains  of  Ancyra,  and  forced  them  to 
sue  for  peace.  The  booty  gained,  the  produce  of  their  plun- 
der for  many  years,  was  injmense.  Manlius  then  led  his  army 
back  to  the  coast  for  the  winter.  The  next  year  (564)  ten 
commissioners  came  out  to  ratify  the  peace  with  Antiochus; 
they  added  some  more  conditions,  such  as  the  surrender  of 
his  elephants:  the  peace  was  then  sworn  to,  and  the  Romans 
evacuated  Asia. 

Hannibal,  when  he  found  that  the  Romans  demanded  him, 
retired  to  Crete ;  not  thinking  himself,  however,  safe  in  that 
island,  he  left  it  soon  after  and  repaired  to  the  court  of  Pru- 
sias,  king  of  Bithynia,  who  felt  flattered  by  the  presence  of 
so  great  a  man.  But  the  vengeance  of  Rome  did  not  sleep, 
and  no  less  a  person  than  T.  Flamininus  was  sent  (569)  to  de- 
mand his  death  or  his  surrender.  The  mean-spirited  Prusias, 
immediately  after  a  conference  with  the  Roman  envoy,  sent 
soldiers  to  seize  his  illustrious  guest,  Hannibal,  who  it  is 
said  had,  in  expectation  of  treachery,  made  seven  passages, 
open  and  secret,  from  his  house,  attempted  to  escape  by  the 
most  private  one;  but  finding  it  guarded,  he  had  recourse 
to  the  poison  which  he  always  carried  about  him.  Having 
vented  imprecations  on  Prusias  for  his  breach  of  hospitality, 
he  drank  the  poison  and  expired,  in  the  sixty-fifth  year  of 
his  age. 

It  is  said  that  Scipio  Africanus  died  in  the  same  year 
with  his  illustrious  rival,  an  instance  also  of  the  mutability 


LAfeT  DAYS  OF*  sfcmb.  259 

of  fortune,  for  the  conqueror  of  Carthage  breathed  his  last 
in  exile !  In  the  year  559  he  had  had  a  specimen  of  the 
instability  of  popular  favor;  for  while  at  the  consular  elec- 
tions he  and  all  the  Cornelian  gens  exerted  their  influence  in 
favor  of  his  cousin  P.  Cornelius  Scipio,  the  son  of  Cnaeus,  who 
had  been  killed  in  Spain,  —  and  who  was  himself  of  so  exem- 
plary a  character,  that  when  the  statue  of  the  Idsean  Mother 
(Cybele)  was  brought  to  Rome,  it  was  committed  to  his 
charge,  as  being  the  best  man  in  the  city,  —  they  were  forced 
to  yield  to  that  of  the  vain-glorious  T.  Quinctius  Flamininus, 
who  sued  for  his  brother,  the  profligate  L.  Quinctius.  But, 
as  the  historian  observes,  the  glory  of  Flamininus  was  fresh-' 
er ;  he  had  triumphed  that  very  year;  whereas  Africanus  had 
been  now  ten  years  in  the  public  view,  and  since  his  victory 
over  Hannibal  he  had  been  consul  a  second  time,  and  cen- 
sor, —  very  sufficient  reasons  for  the  decline  of  his  favor  with 
the  unstable  people. 

The  year  after  the  conclusion  of  the  peace  with  Antiochus, 
(566,)  the  Q,.  Petillii,  tribunes  of  the  people,  at  the  instigation, 
it  is  said,  of  Cato,  cited  Scipio  Africanus  before  the  tribes,  to 
answer  various  charges  on  old  and  new  grounds,  of  which 
the  chief  was  that  of  having  taken  bribes  from  Antiochus, 
and  not  having  accounted  for  the  spoil.  Scipio  was  attended 
to  the  Forum  by  an  immense  concourse  of  people ;  he  dis- 
dained to  notice  the  charges  against  him ;  in  a  long  speech  he 
enumerated  the  various  actions  he  had  performed,  and  taking 
a  book  from  his  bosom,  "  In  this,"  said  he,  "  is  an  account  of 
all  you  want  to  know."  '*  Read  it,"  said  the  tribunes,  "  and 
let  it  then  be  deposited  in  the  treasury."  "  No,"  said  Scipio, 
"  I  will  not  offer  myself  such  an  insult ;  "  and  he  tore  the  book 
before  their  faces.* 

The  night  came  on;   the  cause  was  deferred  till  the  next 
day  :  at  dawn  the  tribunes  took  their  seat  on  the  Rostra;  the 
accused,  on  being  cited,  came  before  it,  attended  by  a  crowd 
of  his  friends  and  clients.     "  This  day,  ye  tribunes  and  Q,tii- 
rites,"  said  he,  "I  defeated  Hannibal  in  Africa.     As,  there-^ 
fore,  it  should  be  free  from  strife  and  litigation,  I  will  go  to' 
the  Capitol  and  give  thanks  to  Jupiter  and  the  other  gods  who ' 
inspired  me  on  this  and  other  days  to  do  good  service  to  the" 
state.     Let  whoso   will,  come  with  me  and  pray  the  gods'^ 
that  ye  may  always  have  leaders  like  unto  me."     He  ascended 
the  Capitol;  all  foUowedhim,  and  the  tribdn^'Mrferfiieftr  "sit- 

*  Gellius,  iv.  18. 


260  HISTORY   OF    ROME. 

ting  alone.  He  then  went  round  to  all  the  other  temples,  still 
followed  by  the  people ;  and  this  last  day  of  his  glory  nearly 
equalled  that  of  his  triumph  for  conquered  Africa.  His 
cause  was  put  off  for  some  days  longer ;  but  in  the  inter- 
val, disgusted  with  the  prospect  of  contests  with  the  tribunes, 
which  his  proud  spirit  could  ill  brook,  he  retired  to  Liternum 
in  Campania.  On  his  not  appearing,  the  tribunes  spoke  of 
sending  and  dragging  him  before  the  tribunal ;  but  their 
colleagues  interposed,  especially  Ti.  Sempronius  Gracchus, 
from  whom  it  was  least  expected,  as  he  was  at  enmity  with 
the  Scipios.  The  senate  thanked  Gracchus  for  his  noble 
conduct,*  the  matter  dropped,  and  Scipio  spent  the  remain- 
der of  his  days  at  Liternum.  He  was  buried  there,  it  is  said, 
at  his  own  desire,  that  his  ungrateful  country  might  not  even 
possess  his  ashes. 

The  actions  of  the  two  great  men  who  were  now  removed 
from  the  scene  sufficiently  declare  their  characters.  As  a 
general,  Hannibal  is  almost  without  an  equal ;  not  a  single 
military  error  can  be  charged  on  him,  and  the  address  with 
which  he  managed  to  keep  an  army  composed  of  such  dis- 
cordant elements  as  his  in  obedience,  even  when  obliged  to 
act  on  the  defensive,  is  astonishing.  The  charges  of  perfidy, 
cruelty,  and  such  like,  made  against  him  by  the  Roman 
writers,  are  quite  unfounded,  and  are  belied  by  facts.  No- 
where does  Hannibal's  character  appear  so  great  as  when, 
after  the  defeat  at  Zama,  he,  with  unbroken  spirit,  applied 
his  great  mind  to  the  reform  of  political  abuses  and  the 
restoration  oif  the  finances,  in  the  hopes  of  once  more  rais- 
ing his  country  to  independence.  Here  he  shone  the  true 
patriot. 

The  character  of  his  rival  has  come  down  to  us  under  the 
garb  of  panegyric;  but  even  after  making  all  due  deductions, 
much  remains  to  be  admired.  His  military  talents  were 
doubtless  considerable ;  of  his  civil  virtues  we  hear  but  little, 
and  we  cannot  therefore  judge  of  him  accurately  as  a  states- 
man. Though  a  high  aristocrat,  we  have,  however,  seen 
that  he  would  not  hesitate  to  lower  the  authority  of  the 
senate  by  appealing  to  the  people  in  the  gratification  of  his 
ambition ;  and  we  certainly  cannot  approve  of  the  conduct 
of  the  public  man  who  disdained  to  produce  his  accounts 

•  For  this,  and  for  his  similar  conduct  to  L.  Scipio,  the  family  gave 
him  in  marriage  Cornelia,  the  daughter  of  Africdnus.  The  twocele- 
boraied  Gracchi  were  their  aonsi 


WAR   WITH    PERSEUS.  261 

when  demanded.  Of  his  vaunted  magnanimity  and  gener- 
osity we  have  already  had  occasion  to  speak,  and  not  in  very 
exalted  terms.  Still,  Rome  has  but  one  name  in  her  annals 
to  place  in  comparison  with  Africanus ;  that  name,  Julius 
Caesar,  is  a  greater  than  his,  perhaps  than  any  other. 

To  return  to  our  narrative.  In  the  period  which  had 
elapsed  since  the  peace  with  Carthage,  there  had  been 
annual  occupation  for  the  Roman  arms  in  Cisalpine  Gaul, 
Liguria,  and  Spain.  The  Gauls,  whose  inaction  all  the  time 
Hannibal  was  in  Italy  seems  hard  to  account  for,  resumed 
arms  in  the  year  551,  at  the  instigation  of  one  Hasdrubal, 
who  had  remained  behind  from  the  army  of  Mago;  they  took 
the  colony  of  Placentia,  and  met  several  consular  and  praeto- 
rian armies  in  the  field,  and,  after  sustaining  many  great 
defeats,  were  completely  reduced  :  the  Ligurians,  owing  to 
their  mountains,  made  a  longer  resistance,  but  they  also 
were  brought  under  the  yoke  of  Rome.  In  Spain  the  various 
portions  of  its  warlike  population,  ill  brooking  the  dominion 
of  strangers,  rose  continually  in  arms,  but  failed  before  the 
discipline  of  the  Roman  legions  and  the  skill  of  their  com- 
manders. The  celebrated  M.  Porcius  Cato  when  consul 
(557)  acquired  great  fame  by  his  conduct  in  this  country. 

Philip  of  Macedonia,  who  with  all  his  vices  was  an  able 
prince,  had  long  been  making  preparations  for  a  renewed 
war  with  Rome,  which  he  saw  to  be  inevitable.  He  died 
(573)  before  matters  came  to  an  extremity.  His  son  and 
successor,  Perseus  *  was  a  man  of  a  very  different  character ; 
for,  while  he  was  free  from  his  father's  love  of  wine  and 
women,  he  did  not  possess  his  redeeming  qualities,  and  was 
deeply  infected  by  a  mean  spirit  of  avarice.  It  was  reserved 
for  him  to  make  the  final  trial  of  strength  with  the  Romans. 
Eumenes  of  Pergamus  went  himself  to  Rome,  to  represent 
how  formidable  he  was  become,  and  the  necessity  of  crush- 
ing him ;  the  envoys  of  Perseus  tried  in  vain  to  justify  him 
in  the  eyes  of  the  jealous  senate;  war  was  declared  (580) 
against  him  on  the  usual  pretext  of  his  injuring  the  allies  of 
Rome,  and  the  conduct  of  it  was  committed  to  P.  Licinius 
Crassus,  one  of  the  consuls  for  the  ensuing  year. 

The  Macedonian  army  amounted  to  thirty-nine  thousand 
foot,  one  half  of  whom  were  phalangites,  and  four  thousand 
horse,  the  largest  that  Macedonia  had  sent  to  the  field  since 
the  time  of  Alexander  the  Great.  Perseus  entered  Thessaly 
at  the  head  of  this  army,  and  at  the  same  time  the  Roman 

*  By  the  Latin  writers  he  is  always  named  Perses. 


26^  msTORTf'  or  rome. 

legioti*  entered  it  from  Epirus.  An  engagement  of  cavalry 
took  place  not  ftir  from  the  Peneus,  in  which  the  advantage 
was  decidedly  on  the  side  of  the  king.  In  another  encounter 
success  was  on  that  of  the  Romans ;  after  which  Perseus  led 
his  troops  home  for  the  winter,  and  Licinlus  quartered  his 
in  Thessaly  and  Boeotia. 

Nothing  deserving  of  note  occurred  in  the  following  year. 
In  the  spring  of  583  the  consul  Q,.  Marcius  Philippus  led 
his  army  over  the  Cambunian  mountains  into  Macedonia, 
and  Perseus,  instead  of  occupying  the  passes  in  the  rear  and 
cutting  off  his  supplies  from  Thessaly,  cowardly  retired 
before  him,  and  allowed  him  to  ravage  all  the  south  of  Mace- 
donia. Marcius  returned  to  Thessaly  for  the  winter,  and  in 
the  spring  (584)  the  new  consul,  L.  ^milius  Paulus,  a  man 
of  high  consideration,  of  great  talent,  and  who  had  in  a 
former  consulate  gained  much  fame  in  Spain,  came  out  to 
take  the  command. 

Meantime  the  wretched  avarice  of  Perseus  was  putting  an 
end  to  every  chance  he  had  of  success.  Eumenes  had 
offered,  for  the  sum  of  1500  talents,  to  abstain  from  taking 
part  in  the  war,  and  to  endeavor  to  negotiate  a  peace  for 
him :  Perseus  gladly  embraced  the  offer,  and  was  ready 
enough  to  arrange  about  the  hostages  which  Eumenes  agreed 
to  give ;  but  he  hesitated  to  part  with  the  money  till  he  had 
had  the  value  for  it,  and  he  proposed  that  it  should  be  de- 
posited in  the  temple  at  Samothrace  till  the  war  was  ended. 
As  Samothrace  belonged  to  Perseus,  Eumenes  saw  he  was 
not  to  be  trusted,  and  he  broke  off  the  negotiation.  Again, 
a  body  of  Gauls  of  10,000  horse,  and  an  equal  number  of 
foot,  from  beyond  the  Ister,  to  whom  he  had  promised  large 
pay,  were  now  at  hand ;  Perseus  sought  to  circumvent  them 
and  save  his  money,  and  the  offended  barbarians  ravaged 
Thrace  and  returned  home.  It  is  the  opinion  of  the  histo- 
rian, that  if  he  had  kept  his  word  with  these  Gauls,  and  sent 
them  into  Thessaly,  the  situation  of  the  Roman  army,  placed 
thus  between  two  armies,  might  have  been  very  perilous. 
Lastly,  he  agreed  to  give  Gentius,  king  of  Illyria,  300 
talents  if  he  went  to  war  with  the  Romans :  he  sent  ten  of 
them  at  once,  and  directed  those  who  bore  the  remainder  to 
go  very  slowly ;  meantime  his  ambassador  kept  urging  Gen- 
tius, who,  to  please  him,  seized  two  Roirian  envoys  who 
arrived  just  then,  and  imprisoned  themi  Perseus  thinking 
him  now  fully  committed  with  the  Ronianfr-by  this  act,'-sent 
to  recall  the  rest  of  his  money. 


CONQUEST    OF    MACEDONIA.  263 

Paulus  led  his  army  without  delay  into  Macedonia,  and  in 
the  neighborhood  of  Pydna  he  forced  the  crafty  Perseus  to 
come  to  an  engagement.  The  victory  was  speedy  and  de- 
cisive on  the  side  of  the  Romans;  the  Macedonian  horse 
fled,  the  king  setting  the  example,  and  the  phalanx  thus  left 
exposed  was  cut  to  pieces.  Perseus  fled  with  his  treasures 
to  Amphipolis,  and  thence  to  the  sacred  isle  of  Samothrace. 
All  Macedonia  submitted  to  the  consul,  who  then  advanced 
to  Amphipolis  after  Perseus,  who  in  vain  sent  letters  suing 
for  favor. 

Meantime  the  prjetor  Cn.  Octavius  was  come  with  his 
fleet  to  Samothrace.  He  sought  ineffectually  to  induce 
Perseus  to  surrender,  and  then  so  wrought  on  the  people  of 
the  island,  that  the  unhappy  prince,  considering  himself  no 
longer  safe,  resolved  to  try  to  escape  to  Cotys,  king  of 
Thrace,  his  only  remaining  ally.  A  Cretan  ship-master 
undertook  to  convey  him  away  secretly ;  provisions,  and  as 
much  money  as  could  be  carried  thither  unobserved,  were 
put  on  board  his  bark  in  the  evening,  and  at  midnight  the 
king  left  the  temple  secretly  and  proceeded  to  the  appointed 
spot.  But  no  bark  was  there ;  the  Cretan,  false  as  any  of 
his  countrymen,  had  set  sail  for  Crete  as  soon  as  it  was  dark. 
Perseus,  having  wandered  about  the  shore  till  near  daylight, 
slunk  back  and  concealed  himself  in  a  corner  of  the  temple. 
He  was  soon  obliged  to  surrender  to  Octavius,  by  whom  he 
was  conveyed  to  the  consul.  Macedonia  was,  by  the  direc- 
tion of  the  senate,  divided  into  four  republics,  between 
which  there  was  to  be  neither  intermarriage  nor  purchase  of 
immovable  property,  [connubium  or  commercium ;)  each  was 
to  defray  the  expenses  of  its  own  government,  and  pay  to 
Rome  one  half  of  the  tribute  it  had  paid  to  the  kings ;  the 
silver  and  gold  mines  were  not  to  be  wrought,  no  ship-timber 
was  to  be  felled,  no  troops  to  be  kept  except  on  the  fron- 
tiers ;  all  who  had  held  any  office,  civil  or  military,  under 
Perseus,  were  ordered  to  quit  Macedonia  and  go  and  live  in 
Italy,  lest  if  they  remained  at  home  they  should  raise  distur- 
bances. In  Greece,  the  lovers  of  their  country  were  put  to 
death  or  removed  to  Italy,  under  pretext  of  their  having 
favored  the  cause  of  Perseus,  and  the  administration  of 
affairs  was  placed  in  the  hands  of  the  tools  of  Rome. 

Paulus  on  his  return  to  Rome  celebrated  his  triumph  with 
great  magnificence.  His  soldiers,  because  he  had  main- 
tained rigid  discipline  and  had  given  them  less  of  the  booty 
than  they  had  expected,   and   instigated  by  Ser.  Sulpicius 


264  HISTORY    OF    ROME. 

Galba,  one  of  their  tribunes,  a  personal  enemy  to  Paulus, 
had  tried  to  prevent  it ;  but  the  eloquence  of  M.  Servilius 
and  others  prevailed.  Perseus  and  his  children,  examples 
of  the  mutability  of  fortune,  preceded  the  car  of  the  victor. 
After  the  triumph,  Perseus  was  confined  at  Alba  in  the 
Marsian  land,  where  he  died  a  few  years  after. 

Octavius  was  allowed  to  celebrate  a  naval  triumph  ;  and 
the  praetor  L.  Anicius  Gallus,  who  had  in  thirty  days  reduced 
Illyria  and  made  Gentius  and  all  his  family  captives,  also 
triumphed  for  that  country. 


CHAPTER  VIII.* 

AFFAIRS  OF  CARTHAGE. THIRD  PUNIC  WAR. DESCRIPTION 

OF    CARTHAGE. ILL    SUCCESS    OF    THE    ROMANS. SCIPIO 

MADE  CONSUL. HE  SAVES  MANCINUS. RESTORES    DISCI- 
PLINE IN  THE  ARMY. ATTACK  ON  CARTHAGE. ATTEMPT 

TO  CLOSE  THE  HARBOR. CAPTURE    AND    DESTRUCTION    OF 

CARTHAGE. REDUCTION  OF  MACEDONIA    AND    GREECE    TO 

PROVINCES. 

After  the  conclusion  of  the  Hannibalian  war,  the  Car- 
thaginians seemed  disposed  to  remain  at  peace ;  but  the 
ambition  of  their  neighbor,  Masinissa,  whose  life,  to  their 
misfortune,  was  extended  to  beyond  ninety  years,  would  not 
allow  them  to  rest.  He  was  continually  encroaching  on 
their  territory  and  seizing  their  subject  towns.  The  Roman 
senate,  when  appealed  to  as  the  common  superior,  sent  out 
commissioners,  who  almost  invariably  decided  in  favor  of 
Masinissa,  and  he  gradually  extended  his  dominion  from  the 
ocean  inlands  to  the  Syrtes. 

On  one  of  these  occasions  M.  Porcius  Cato  was  one  of 
those  sent  out;  and  when  he  saw  the  fertility  of  the  Cartha- 
ginian territory  and  its  high  state  of  culture,  and  the  strength, 
wealth,  and  population  of  the  city,  he  became  apprehensive 
of  its  yet  endangering  the  power  of  Rome;  his  vanity  also, 
of  which  he  had  a  large  share,  was  wounded,  because  the 

*  Henceforth  Livy  fails  us,  as  we  have  only  the  epitomes  of  his  re- 
maining books.  Our  principal  authority  for  this  chapter  is  Appian's 
Punica. 


AFFAIRS    OF    CABTHAGE.  263 

Carthaginians,  who  were  manifestly  in  the  right,  would  not 
acquiesce  at  once  in  the  decision  of  himself,  and  his  col- 
leagues ;  and  he  returned  to  Rome  full  of  bitterness  against 
them.  Henceforth  he  concluded  all  his  speeches  in  the 
senate  with  these  words,  "  I  also  think  that  Carthage  should 
be  destroyed."*  On  the  other  side  P.  Scipio  Nasica,  either 
from  a  regard  to  justice,  or,  as  it  is  said,  persuaded  that  the 
only  mode  of  saving  Rome  from  the  corruption  to  which  she 
was  tending,  was  to  keep  up  a  formidable  rival  to  her,  strenu- 
ously opposed  this  course.  The  majority,  however,  inclined 
to  the  opinion  of  Cato ;  it  was  resolved  to  lay  hold  on  the 
first  plausible  pretext  for  declaring  war,  and  to  those  who 
were  so  disposed  a  pretext  was  not  long  wanting. 

At  Carthage  there  were  three  parties ;  the  Roman,  the 
Numidian,  and  the  popular  party.  This  last,  which,  with 
all  its  faults,  alone  was  patriotic,  drove  out  of  the  city  about 
forty  of  the  principal  of  the  Numidian  party,  and  made  the 
people  swear  never  to  readmit  them  or  listen  to  any  propo- 
sals for  their  return.  The  exiles  repaired  to  Masinissa,  who 
sent  his  sons  Micipsa  and  Gulussa  to  Carthage  on  their  be- 
half But  Carthalo,  a  leader  of  the  popular  party,  shut  the 
gates  against  them,  and  Hamilcar,  the  other  popular  leader, 
fell  on  Gulussa  as  he  was  coming  again,  and  killed  some  of 
those  who  attended  him.  This  gave  occasion  to  a  war  ;  a 
battle  was  fought  between  Masinissa  and  the  Punic  troops 
led  by  Hasdrubal,  which  lasted  from  morning  to  night 
without  being  completely  decided.  But  Masinissa,  having 
inclosed  the  Punic  army  on  a  hill,  starved  them  into  a  sur- 
render ;  and  Gulussa,  as  they  were  departing  unarmed,  fell 
on  and  slaughtered  them  all.  The  Carthaginians  lost  no 
time  in  sending  to  Rome  to  justify  themselves,  having  previ- 
ously passed  sentence  of  death  on  Hasdrubal,  Carthalo,  and 
the  other  authors  of  the  war.  The  senate,  however,  would 
accept  no  excuse ;  and,  after  various  efforts  on  the  part  of 
the  Carthaginians  to  avert  it,  war  was  proclaimed  against 
them,  (603,)  and  the  conduct  of  it  committed  to  the  consuls 
L.  Marcius  Censorinus  and  M.  Manilius  Nepos,  with  secret 
orders  not  to  desist  from  it  till  Carthage  was  destroyed. 
Their  army  is  said  to  have  consisted  of  80,000  foot  and  4000 
horse,  which  had  been  previously  prepared  for  this  war. 

*  Plut.  Cato  Major,  26,  27.  Cato  one  day  in  the  senate-house  let 
fall  from  his  toga  some  fine  African  figs,  and  when  the  senators  ad- 
mired them  he  said,  "  The  country  that  produces  these  is  but  three 
days'  sail  from  Rome." 

23  HH 


266  HISTORY    OF    ROME. 

The  Carthaginians  learned  almost  at  the  same  moment  the 
declaration  of  war  and  the  sailing  of  the  Roman  army.  They 
saw  themselves  without  ships,  (for  they  had  been  prohibited 
to  build  any,)  without  an  ally,  (even  Utica,  not  eight  miles 
from  their  city,  having  joined  the  Romans,)  without  merce- 
naries, or  even  supplies  of  corn,  and  the  flower  of  their 
youth  had  been  lately  cut  off  by  Masinissa.  They  again  sent 
an  embassy  to  Rome,  to  make  a  formal  surrender  of  their 
city.  The  senate  replied  that  if,  within  thirty  days,  they 
sent  three  hundred  children  of  the  noblest  families  as  hos- 
tages to  the  consuls  in  Sicily,  and  did  whatever  they  com- 
manded them,  they  should  be  allowed  to  be  free  and  gov- 
erned by  their  own  laws,  and  retain  all  the  territory  they 
possessed  in  Africa.  At  the  same  time  secret  orders  were 
sent  to  the  consuls  to  abide  by  their  original  instructions. 

The  Carthaginians  became  somewhat  suspicious  at  no 
mention  of  their  city  having  been  made  by  the  senate.  They 
however  resolved  to  obey,  and  leave  no  pretext  for  attacking 
them;  the  hostages  accordingly  were  sent  to  Lilybaeum, 
amidst  the  tears  and  lamentations  of  their  parents  and  rela- 
tives. The  consuls  straightway  transmitted  them  to  Rome, 
and  then  told  the  Carthaginians  that  they  would  settle  the 
remaining  matters  at  Utica,  to  which  place  they  lost  no  time 
in  passing  over ;  and  when  the  Punic  envoys  came  to  learn 
their  will,  they  said  that,  as  the  Carthaginians  had  declared 
their  wish  and  resolution  to  live  at  peace,  they  could  have  no 
need  for  arms  and  weapons;  they  therefore  required  them 
to  deliver  up  all  that  they  had.  This  mandate  also  was 
obeyed ;  two  hundred  thousand  sets  of  armor,  with  weap- 
ons of  all  kinds  in  proportion,  were  brought  on  wagons 
into  the  Roman  camp,  accompanied  by  the  priests,  the  sen- 
ators, and  the  chief  persons  of  the  city.  Censorinus  then, 
having  praised  their  diligence  and  ready  obedience,  announ- 
ced to  them  the  further  will  of  the  senate,  which  was  that 
they  should  q\iit  Carthage,  which  the  Romans  intended  tp 
level,  and  build  another  town  in  any  part  of  their  territory 
they  pleased,  but  not  within  less  than  ten  miles  of  the  sea."* 
The  moment  they  heard  this  ruthless  command  they  aban- 
doned themselves  to  every  extravagance  of  grief  and  despair; 
they  rolled  themselves  on  the  ground,  they  tore  their  garments 
and  their  hair,  they  beat  their  breasts  and  faces,  they  called 
on  the  gods,  they  abused  the  Romans  for  their  treachery  and 

*  It  well  became  the  Romans  after  this  to  talk  of  Punica  fides. 


THIRD    PUNIC    WAR.  267 

deceit.  When  they  recovered  from  their  paroxysm,  they  spokq 
again,  requesting  to  be  allowed  to  send  an  embassy  to  Rome. 
The  consul  said  this  would  be  to  no  purpose,  for  the  will  of 
the  senate  must  be  carried  into  effect.  They  then  departed, 
with  the  melancholy  forebodings  of  the  reception  they  might 
meet  with  at  home,  and  some  of  them  ran  away  on  the  road, 
fearing  to  face  the  enraged  populace.  Censorinus  forthwith 
sent  twenty  ships  to  cast  anchor  before  Carthage. 

The  people,  who  were  anxiously  waiting  their  return, 
when  they  saw  their  downcast,  melancholy  looks,  gave  way 
to  despair,  and  lamented  aloud.  The  envoys  passed  on  in 
silence  to  the  senate-house,  and  there  made  known  the  inex- 
orable resolve  of  Rome.  When  the  senators  heard  it,  they 
groaned  and  wept;  the  people  without  joined  in  their  lamen-^ 
tations,  then  giving  way  to  rage  they  rushed  in  and  tore  to 
pieces  the  principal  advisers  of  the  delivery  of  the  hostages 
and  arms ;  and  they  stoned  the  ambassadors  and  drjigged  them 
about  the  city ;  they  then  fell  on  and  abused  in  various  ways 
such  Italians  as  happened  to  be  still  there.  The  senate  that 
very  day  resolved  on  war;  they  proclaimed  liberty  to  the 
slaves,  they  chose  Hasdrubal,  whom  they  had  condemned  to 
death,  and  who  was  at  a  place  called  Nepheris  at  the  head  of  a 
force  of  twenty  thousand  men,  general  for  the  exterior,  and 
another  Hasdrubal,  the  grandson  of  Masinissa,  for  the  city; 
and  having  again  vainly  applied  to  the  consuls  for  a  truce 
that  they  might  send  envoys  to  Rome,  they  prepared  vigor- 
ously for  defence,  resolved  to  endure  the  last  rather  than 
abandon  their  city.  The  temples  and  other  sacred  places 
were  turned  into  workshops,  men  and  women  wrought  day 
and  night  in  the  manufacture  of  arms,  and  the  women  cut 
off  their  long  hair  that  it  might  be  twisted  into  bow-strings. 
The  consuls  meantime,  though  urged  by  Masinissa,  did  not. 
advance  against  the  city,  either  through  dislike  of  the  un- 
pleasant task,  or  because  they  thought  that  they  could  take  it 
whenever  they  pleased.  At  length  they  led  their  troops  to 
the  attack  of  the  town. 

The  city  of  Carthage  lay  on  a  peninsula  at  the  bottom  of 
a  large  bay ;  at  its  neck,  which  was  nearly  three  miles  in 
width,  stood  the  citadel,  Byrsa,  on  a  rock  whose  summit  was 
occupied  by  the  temple  of  Esmun,  (^Esculapius;)  from  the 
neck  on  the  east  ran  a  narrow  belt  or  tongue  of  land, 
between  the  lake  of  Tunis  and  the  sea ;  at  a  little  distance  in- 
lands extended  a  rocky  ridge,  through  which  narrow  passes 
had  been  hewn.     The  harbor  was  on  the  east  ^de  of  the 


268  HISTORY    OF    ROME. 

peninsula ;  it  was  double,  consisting  of  an  outer  and  an  inner 
one,  and  its  mouth,  which  was  seventy  feet  wide,  was  se- 
cured with  iron  chains:  the  outer  harbor  was  surrounded 
by  a  quay  for  the  landing  of  goods.  The  inner  one,  named 
the  Cothon,*  was  for  the  ships  of  war ;  its  only  entrance  was 
through  the  outer  one,  and  it  was  defended  by  a  double 
wall ;  in  its  centre  was  an  elevated  island  on  which  stood  the 
admiral's  house,  whence  there  was  a  view  out  over  the  open 
sea.  The  Cothon  was  able  to  contain  two  hundred  and 
twenty  ships,  and  was  provided  with  all  the  requisite  maga- 
zines. A  single  wall  environed  the  whole  city  ;  that  of  Byr- 
sa  was  triple,  each  wall  being  30  ells  high,  exclusive  of  the 
battlements,  and  at  intervals  of  two  hundred  feet  were  tow- 
ers four  stories  high.  A  double  row  of  vaults  ran  round 
each  wall,  the  lower  one  containing  stalls  for  300  elephants 
and  4000  horses,  with  granaries  for  their  fodder ;  the  upper, 
barracks  for  20,000  foot  and  4000  horse.  Three  streets  led 
from  Byrsa  to  the  market,  which  was  near  the  Cothon,  which 
harbor  gave  name  to  this  quarter  of  the  town.  That  part 
of  the  town  which  lay  to  the  west  and  north  was  named 
Megara ;  t  it  was  more  thinly  inhabited,  and  full  of  gardens 
divided  by  walls  and  hedges.  The  city  was  in  compass 
twenty-three  miles,  and  is  said  to  have  contained  at  this  time 
700,000  inhabitants. 

The  consuls  divided  their  forces;  Censorinus  attacked 
from  his  ships  the  wall  where  it  was  weakest,  at  the  angle  of 
the  isthmus :  Manilius  attempted  to  fill  the  ditch  and  carry 
the  outer  works  of  the  great  wall.  They  reckoned  on  no  re- 
sistance ;  but  their  expectations  were  deceived,  and  they  were 
forced  to  retire.  Censorinus  then  constructed  two  large  bat- 
tering rams,  with  which  he  threw  down  a  part  of  the  wall 
near  the  belt ;  the  Carthaginians  partly  rebuilt  it  during  the 
night,  and  next  day  they  drove  out  with  loss  such  of  the  Ro- 
mans as  had  entered  by  the  breach.  They  had  also  in  the  night 
made  a  sally,*  and  burnt  the  engines  of  the  besiegers.  It  be- 
ing now  the-dog  days,  and  Censorinus,  finding  the  situation  of 
his  camp,  close  to  a  lake  of  standing  water,  unwholesome,  re- 
moved to  the  sea  shore.  The  Carthaginians  then,  watching 
when  the  wind  blew  strong  from  the  sea  on  the  Roman  sta- 
tion, used  to  fill  small  vessels  with  combustibles,  to  which 

*  This  was  a  general  name  for  an  artificial  harbor,  probably  from  its 
resemblance  to  the  xw^wr,  a  kind  of  drinking-vessel. 

t  This  is  probably  a  Greek  corruption  of  Magaria  or  Magalia,  tents 
or  dwelUngs,  connected  with  the  Hebrew  ma^r,  'dwelling.' 


ILL  SUCCESS  OF  THE  ROMANS.  269 

they  set  fire,  and  spreading  their  sails  let  the  wind  drive  them 
on  the  Roman  ships,  many  of  which  were  thus  destroyed. 

Censorinus  having  gone  to  Rome  for  the  elections,  the 
Carthaginians  became  more  daring,  and  they  ventured  a  noc- 
turnal attack  on  the  camp  of  Manilius,  in  which  they  would 
have  succeeded  but  for  the  presence  of  mind  of  Scipio,  one 
of  the  tribunes,  who  led  out  the  horse  at  the  rear  of  the  camp, 
and  fell  on  them  unexpectedly.  A  second  nocturnal  attack 
was  frustrated  by  the  same  Scipio,  who  was  now  the  life  and 
soul  of  the  army.  Manilius  then,  contrary  to  the  advice  of 
Scipio,  led  his  troops  to  Nepheris  against  Hasdrubal ;  but  he 
was  forced  to  retire  with  loss,  and  four  entire  cohorts  would 
have  been  cut  off  but  for  the  valor  and  skill  of  Scipio. 
Shortly  after,  when  commissioners  came  out  from  Rome  to 
inquire  into  the  causes  of  the  want  of  success,  Manilius  and 
his  officers  laying  aside  all  jealousy,  bore  testimony  to  the 
merits  of  Scipio ;  the  affection  of  the  army  for  him  was  also 
manifest ;  of  all  which  the  commissioners  informed  the  sen- 
ate and  people  on  their  return.  Masinissa  dying  at  this  time, 
left  the  regulation  of  his  kingdom  to  Scipio,  who  divided 
the  regal  office  among  the  three  legitimate  sons  of  the  de- 
ceased monarch  ;  giving  the  capital  and  the  chief  dignity  to 
Micipsa,  the  eldest,  the  management  of  the  foreign  relations 
to  Gulussa,  and  the  administration  of  justice  to  Mastanabal. 
Scipio  also  induced  Himilco  Famaeas,  a  Punic  commander, 
who  had  hitherto  done  the  Romans  much  mischief,  to  desert 
to  them  with  two  thousand  two  hundred  horse. 

In  the  spring  (604)  the  new  consul  L.  Calpurnius  Piso 
came  out  to  take  the  command  of  the  army,  and  the  praetor 
L.  Hostilius  Mancinus  that  of  the  fleet.  They  attacked  the 
town  of  Clupea  by  sea  and  land,  but  were  repulsed ;  and 
Calpurnius  then  spent  the  whole  summer  to  no  purpose  in 
the  siege  of  Hippagreta,  a  strong  town  between  Carthage  and 
Utica.  The  Carthaginians,  elevated  by  their  unexpected  good 
fortune,  were  now  masters  of  the  country  ;  they  insulted  the 
Romans,  and  endeavored  to  detach  the  Numidians.  Hasdru- 
bal, proud  of  his  successes  over  Manilius,  aspired  to  the  com- 
mand of  the  city :  he  accused  the  other  Hasdrubal  of  having 
intelligence  with  his  uncle  Gulussa,  who  was  in  the  Roman 
camp  ;  and  when  this  last,  on  being  charged  with  it  in  the  sen- 
ate, hesitated  from  surprise,  the  senators  fell  on  and  killed 
him  with  the  seats  ;  and  his  rival  thus  gained  his  object. 

The  elections  now  came  on  at  Rome ;  Scipio  was  there 
as  a  candidate  for  the  aedileship;  all  eyes  were  turned  on 
23* 


270  HISTORY    OF    ROME. 

him,  his  friends  doubtless  were  not  idle,  and  the  letters  from 
the  soldiers  in  Africa  represented  him  as  the  only  man  able 
to  take  Carthage.  The  tribes  therefore  resolved  to  make 
him  consul,  though  he  was  not  of  the  proper  age.*  The 
presiding  consul  opposed  in  vain ;  he  was  elected,  and  the 
people  further  assumed  the  power  of  assigning  him  Africa 
for  his  province. 

This  celebrated  man  was  son  to  -^milius  Paulus,  the 
conqueror  of  Macedonia.  He  had  been  adopted  by  Scipio 
the  son  of  Africanus ;  the  Greek  historian  Polybius  and  the 
philosopher  Panaetius  were  his  instructors  and  friends ;  and 
he  had  already  distinguished  himself  as  a  soldier  both  in 
Spain  and  Africa. 

The  very  evening  that  Scipio  arrived  at  Utica  (605)  he 
had  again  an  opportunity  of  saving  a  part  of  the  Roman  army  ; 
for  Mancinus,  a  vain,  rash  man,  having  brought  the  fleet  close 
to  Carthage,  and  observing  a  part  of  the  wall  over  the  cliffs 
left  unguarded,  landed  some  of  his  men,  who  mounted  to  the 
wall.  The  Carthaginians  opened  a  gate  and  came  to  attack 
them,  the  Romans  drove  them  back  and  entered  the  town; 
Mancinus  landed  more  men,  and  as  it  was  now  evening  he 
sent  off  to  Utica,  requiring  provisions  and  a  reenforcement 
to  be  sent  without  delay,  or  else  they  would  never  be  able 
to  keep  their  position.  Scipio,  who  arrived  that  evening, 
received  about  midnight  the  letters  of  Mancinus;  he  ordered 
the  soldiers  he  had  brought  with  him  and  the  serviceable 
Uticans  to  get  on  board  at  once,  and  he  set  forth  in  the  last 
watch,  directing  his  men  to  stand  erect  on  the  decks  and  let 
themselves  be  seen  ;  he  also  released  a  prisoner,  and  sent 
him  to  tell  at  Carthage  that  Scipio  was  coming.  Mancinus 
meantime  was  hard  pressed  by  the  enemies,  who  attacked 
him  at  dawn;  he  placed  five  hundred  men  who  had  armoj*, 
around  the  remainder  (three  thousand  men)  who  had  none; 
but  this  availed  them  not;  they  were  on  the  point  of  being 
forced  down  the  cliffs  when  Scipio  appeared.  The  Cartha- 
ginians, who  expected  him,  fell  back  a  little,  and  he  lost  no 
time  in  taking  off  Mancinus  and  his  companions  in  peril. 

On  his  taking  the  command,  finding  extreme  laxity  of 
discipline  and  disorder  in  the  army,  in  consequence  of  the 
negligence  of  Piso,  Scipio  called  an  assembly,  and  having 
upbraided  the  soldiers  with  their  conduct,  declared  his  reso- 


•  The  lawful  age  for  the  consulate  at  this  time  was  forty»three  years, 
•od  Scipio  was  only  thirty»eight. 


ATTACK    ON    CARTHAGE.  g7| 

lution  of  maintaining  strict  discipline ;  he  ordered  all  suttlers, 
camp-followers,  and  other  useless  and  pernicious  people  to 
quit  the  camp,  which  he  now  moved  to  within  a  little  distance 
of  Carthage.  The  Carthaginians  also  formed  a  camp  about 
half  a  mile  from  their  walls,  which  Hasdrubal  entered  at  the 
head  of  6000  foot  and  1000  horse,  all  seasoned  troops. 

When  Scipio  thought  the  discipline  of  his  men  sufficiently 
revived,  he  resolved  to  attempt  a  night-attack  on  the  Megara ; 
but  being  perceived  by  the  defenders,  the  Romans  could  not 
scale  the  walls.  Scipio  then  observing  a  turret  (probably  a 
garden  one)  which  belonged  to  some  private  person,  and 
was  close  to  the  wall,  and  of  the  same  height  with  it,  made 
some  of  his  men  ascend  it.  These  drove  down  with  their 
missiles  those  on  the  walls  opposite  them,  and  then  laying 
planks  and  boards  across  got  on  the  wall,  and  jumping  down 
opened  a  gate  to  admit  Scipio,  who  entered  with  four  thou- 
sand men.  The  Punic  soldiers  fled  to  the  Byrsa,"  thinking 
that  the  rest  of  the  town  was  taken,  and  those  in  the  camp 
hearing  the  tumult  ran  thither  also ;  but  Scipio,  finding  the 
Megara  full  of  gardens,  with  trees  and  hedges  and  ditches 
filled  with  water,  and  therefore  unsafe  for  an  invader,  with- 
drew his  men  and  went  back  to  his  camp.  In  the  morning 
Hasdrubal,  to  satiate  his  rage,  took  what  Roman  prisoners 
he  had,  and  placing  them  on  the  walls  in  sight  of  the  Roman 

'  camp,  mutilated  them  in  a  most  horrible  manner,  and  then 
flung  them  down  from  the  lofty  battlements.  When  the  sen- 
ate blamed  him  for  it,  he  put  some  of  them  to  death,  and  he 
made  himself  in  effect  the  tyrant  of  the  city. 

Scipio,  having  taken  and  burnt  the  deserted  camp  of  the 
enemy,  formed  a  camp  within  a  dart's  cast  of  their  wall,  run- 
ning from  sea  to  sea  across  the  isthmus,  and  strongly  for- 
tified on  all  sides.  By  this  means  he  cut  them  off  from  the 
land;  and  as  the  only  way  in  which  provisions  could  now  be 
brought  into  the  city  was  by  sea,  when  vessels,  taking  advan- 
tage of  winds  that  drove  off  the  Roman  ships,  ran  into  the 
.harbor,  he  resolved  to  stop  up  its  mouth  by  a  mole.  He 
commenced  from  the  belt,  forming  the  mole  of  great  breadth 

.  and  with  huge  stones.  The  besieged  at  first  mocked  at  the 
efforts  of  the  Romans ;  but  when  they  saw  how  rapidly  the 
work  advanced  they  became  alarmed,  and  instantly  set  about 
digging  another  passage  out  of  the  port  into  the  open  sea ; 
they  at  the  same  time  built  ships  out  of  the  old  materials; 
and  they  wrought  so  constantly  and  so  secretly,  that  the  Ro- 
mans at  length  saw  all  their  plans  frustrated,  a  new  entrance 


272  HISTORY   OF   ROME. 

opened  to  the  harbor,  and  a  fleet  of  fifty  ships  of  war  and  a 
great  number  of  smaller  vessels  issue  from  it.  Had  their 
evil  destiny  now  allowed  the  Carthaginians  to  take  advantage 
of  their  consternation  and  fall  at  once  on  their  fleet,  which 
was  utterly  unprepared,  they  might  have  destroyed  it ;  but 
they  contented  themselves  with  a  bravado,  and  then  returned 
to  port.  On  the  third  day  the  two  fleets  engaged  from  morn 
till  eve  with  various  success.  The  small  vessels  of  the  enemy 
annoyed  the  Romans  very  much  in  the  action ;  but  in  the 
retreat  they  got  ahead  of  their  own  ships,  and  blocking  up 
the  mouth  of  the  harbor,  obliged  them  to  range  themselves 
along  a  quay  which  had  been  made  without  the  walls  for  the 
landing  of  goods,  whither  the  Roman  ships  followed  them 
and  did  them  much  mischief  During  the  night  they  got 
into  port,  but  in  the  morning  Scipio  resolved  to  try  to  effect 
a  lodgement  on  the  quay  which  was  so  close  to  the  port.  He 
assailed  the  works  that  were  on  it  with  rams,  and  threw 
down  a  part  of  them ;  but  in  the  night  the  Carthaginians 
came,  some  swimming,  some  wading  through  the  water,  hav- 
ing combustibles  with  them,  to  which  they  set  fire  when  near 
the  machines,  and  thus  burnt  them.  They  then  repaired  the 
works ;  but  Scipio  finally  succeeded  in  fixing  a  corps  of  four 
thousand  men  on  the  quay. 

During  the  winter  Scipio  took  by  storm  the  Punic  camp 
before  Nepheris,  and  that  town  surrendered  after  a  siege  of 
twenty-two  days.  As  it  was  from  Nepheris  that  Carthage 
almost  entirely  received  its  supplies,  they  now  failed,  and 
famine  was  severely  felt. 

When  the  spring  came  (606)  Scipio  made  a  vigorous  at- 
tack on  the  port  of  Cothon.  Hasdrubal  during  the  night  set 
fire  to  the  square  side  of  it,  expecting  the  attack  to  be  made 
in  the  same  place  in  the  morning ;  but  Laelius  secretly  entered 
the  round  part*  on  the  other  side  of  the  port,  and  the  atten- 
tion of  the  enemy  being  wholly  directed  to  the  square  part, 
he  easily  made  himself  master  of  it.  Scipio  then  advanced 
to  the  market,  where  he  kept  his  men  under  arms  during  the 
night.  In  the  morning  he  proceeded  to  attack  the  Byrsa, 
whither  most  of  the  people  had  fled  for  refuge.  Three 
streets  of  houses,  six  stories  high,  led  to  this  citadel  from  the 
market ;  the  Romans,  as  they  attempted  to  penetrate  them, 
finding  themselves  assailed  by  missiles  from  the  roofs,  burst 

*  It  would  appear  from  this  that  the  wall  on  one  side  of  the  Cothon 
was  rectangular,  circular  on  the  other. 


CAPTURE    AND    DESTRUCTION    OF    CARTHAGE.         273 

into  the  first  houses,  and  mounting  to  the  roofs,  proceeded 
along  them,  slaying  and  flinging  down  the  defenders ;  others 
meantime  forced  their  way  along  the  streets  ;  weapons  flew 
in  all  directions ;  the  groans  of  the  wounded  and  dying,  the 
shrieks  of  women  and  children,  the  shouts  of  the  victors, 
filled  the  air.  At  length  the  troops  emerged  before  the  Byrsa, 
and  then  Scipio  gave  orders  to  fire  the  town  behind  them. 
Old  men,  women,  and  children,  driven  by  the  flames  from 
their  hiding-places,  became  their  victims;  every  form  of 
horror  and  misery  displayed  itself  During  six  days  devasta- 
tion spread  around ;  on  the  seventh  a  deputation  from  the 
Byrsa,  bearing  supplicatory  wreaths  from  the  temple  of 
iEsculapius,  came  to  Scipio  offering  a  surrender,  on  condi- 
tion of  their  lives  being  spared.  These  terms  were  granted 
to  all  except  the  deserters;  they  came  out  fifty  thousand  in 
number,  men  and  women  ;  the  deserters,  of  whom  there  were 
nine  hundred,  retired  with  Hasdrubal  to  the  iEsculapium, 
which  being  on  a  lofty,  precipitous  site,  they  easily  defended 
till  they  were  overcome  by  fatigue,  want  of  rest,  and  hunger. 
They  then  retired  into  the  temple,  where  Hasdrubal  stole 
away  from  them  and  became  a  suppliant  to  Scipio.  The 
Roman  general  made  him  sit  at  his  feet  in  their  sight ;  they 
reviled  and  abused  him  as  a  coward  and  traitor,  and  then 
setting  fire  to  the  temple  all  perished  in  the  flames.  It  is 
said  that  the  wife  of  Hasdrubal,  whoni  with  her  two  children 
he  had  left  in  the  temple,  advanced  arrayed  in  her  best  gar- 
ments in  front  of  Scipio  while  the  temple  was  burning,  and 
cried  out,  *'  I  blame  not  thee,  O  Roman,  who  hast  warred 
against  an  enemy,  but  that  Hasdrubal,  a  traitor  to  me,  his 
children,  his  country  and  her  temples,  whom  may  the  gods 
of  Carthage  and  thou  with  them  punish !  "  Then  turning  to 
Hasdrubal,  "  O  wretched,  faithless,  and  most  cowardly  of 
men,  these  flames  will  consume  me  and  my  children ;  but 
what  a  triumph  wilt  thou  adorn,  thou,  the  general  of  mighty 
Carthage,  and  what  punishment  wilt  thou  not  undergo  from 
him  before  whom  thou  art  sitting ! "  So  saying,  she  slew 
her  children,  and  cast  them  and  herself  into  the  flames.* 

It  is  also  said,  that  when  Scipio  surveyed  the  ruin  of  this 
mighty  city,  which  had  stood  for  seven  hundred  years,  had 
abounded  in  wealth,  had  spread  her  commerce  far  and  wide, 


*  This  must  be  a  fable.  Why  would  Hasdrubal's  wife  rather  perish 
with  Roman  deserters  than  be  saved  with  her  husband  and  her  fel- 
low-citizens ? 

1 1 


274  HISTORY    OF    ROMS. 

had  reduced  so  many  countries  and  peoples,  and  made  Rome 
tremble  for  her  existence,  he  could  not  refrain  from  tears, 
and  he  repeated  these  lines  of  Homer  : 

"  The  day  will  come  when  sacred  Troy  will  fall, 
And  Priam,  and  strong-speared  Priam's  people."  * 

When  Polybius,  who  was  present,  asked  what  he  meant,  he 
owned  that  he  had  his  country  in  view,  for  which  he  feared 
the  vicissitudes  of  all  things  human. 

Scipio  allowed  his  soldiers  to  plunder  the  town  for  a  cer- 
tain number  of  days,  with  the  reservation  of  the  gold,  the 
silver,  and  the  ornaments  of  the  temples;  and  he  sent  to 
Sicily,  desiring  those  towns  from  whom  the  Carthaginians 
had  taken  any  of  these  last,  to  send  to  receive  them.  He 
despatched  his  swiftest  ship  to  Rome  with  the  account  of 
the  capture  of  Carthage,  where  the  tidings  produced  the 
most  nnbounded  joy.  Ten  commissioners  were  sent  out 
forthwith  to  join  with  Scipio  in  regulating  the  affairs  of  Africa. 
What  remained  of  Carthage  was  levelled,  and  heavy  curses 
pronounced  on  any  one  who  should  attempt  to  rebuild  it ; 
all  the  towns  which  had  adhered  faithfully  to  it  were  treated 
in  a  similar  manner ;  those  which  had  joined  Rome,  partic- 
ularly Utica,  were  rewarded  with  increase  of  territory.  Africa 
was  reduced  to  a  province,  a  land  and  poll-tax  imposed,  and 
a  praetor  was  sent  out  every  year  from  Rome  to  govern  it. 
Scipio  triumphed  on  his  return,  (606,)  and  he  was  henceforth 
named  Africanus. 

In  the  first  year  of  the  war  against  Carthage  (603)  a  man 
named  Andriscus,  who  pretended  to  be  a  son  of  king  Per- 
seus, assumed  the  name  of  Philip,  and  induced  the  Mace- 
donians to  acknowledge  him  as  their  king.  He  invaded 
Thessaly,  but  was  defeated  by  Scipio  Nasica,  and  the  Achae- 
ans.  Scipio's  successor,  the  prsstor  P.  Juventius  Thalma, 
brought  more  troops  with  him  from  Italy,  (604,)  but  he  lost 
the  greater  part  of  them  and  his  own  life  in  attempting  to 
penetrate  into  Macedonia,  and  Andriscus  reentered  Thes- 
saly ;  Q.  CaBcilius  Metellus,  however,  drove  him  out  of  it, 
defeated  him  in  Macedonia,  and  afterwards  in  Thrace,  by 
one   of  whose  princes  he  was  given  up   to  the   Romans. 

*"Eaosrai  i^fiiaQ,  oxav  nor'  hXwXr^  ^'IXioq  igij, 

Kal  IlQiauoc,  xal  Xaog  iv^^itXioj  Ilqiu^ioio,     II.  vi.  448. 
In  like  manner  Mohammed  II.,  when  he  entered  the  palace  of  the 
CEBsars  in  Constantinople  after  the  capture  of  that  town,  repeated  a 
passage  of  Ferdousi,  the  Homer  of  Persia,  to  a  similar  effect. 


AFFAIRS    OF    SPAIN.  275 

Another  impostor  then  appeared,  who  called  himself  Alexan- 
der ;  but  Metellus  forced  him  to  seek  refuge  in  Dardania. 
Metellus  triumphed,  (606,)  and  received  the  title  of  Mace- 
donicus,  and  Macedonia  was  made  a  province. 

Urged  by  their  evil  genius  the  Achaean  League  now  (606) 
ventured  to  measure  their  strength  with  Rome ;  but  one  army 
was  defeated  by  Metellus,  and  another  by  the  consul  L. 
Mumraius.  Corinth  was  taken  and  bur«nt ;  Thebes  and 
Chalcis  were  razed;  and  Greece,  under  the  name  of  Achaia, 
was  reduced  to  a  province.  Mummius  took  the  title  of 
Achaicus,  and  triumphed,  (607,)  displaying  on  this  occasion 
a  vast  number  of  the  finest  pictures  and  statues,  the  plunder 
of  Corinth.  ^ 


CHAPTER  IX.* 

AFFAIRS      OF      SPAIN.  —  WAR      WITH       THE       LUSITANIANS. 

TREACHERY    OF    LUCULLUS. VIRIATHIAN  WAR. MURDER 

OF     VIRIATHUS.. NUMANTINE      WAR. CAPTURE     OF     NU- 

MANTIA.  —  SERVILE  WAR  IN  SICILY. FOREIGN  RELA- 
TIONS   OF     ROME. GOVERNMENT    OF    THE     PROVINCES. 

V  THE  PUBLICANS. ROMAN  SUPERSTITION.  ^- ROMAN  LIT- 
ERATURE. 

The  hardy  tribes  of  Spain  alone  now  offered  resistance  to 
the  Roman  arms.  We  will  therefore  cast  a  glance  at  the 
affairs  of  that  country  since  the  time  of  the  Hannibalian  war. 

After  the  departure  of  Africanus,  (547,)  Indibilis  and 
Mandonius  excited  their  people  to  war,  but  they  were  defeated 
by  the  Romans ;  the  former  was  slain,  and  the  latter  given 
up  by  his  own  people.  In  555  a  new  war  broke  out,  in 
which  the  proconsul  C.  Sempronius  Tuditanus  was  defeated 
and  slain.  The  praetor  Q,.  Minucius  gained  some  advantages 
in  557,  but  it  still  was  found  expedient  to  assign  Spain  as 
the  province  of  M.  Porcius  Cato,  one  of  the  consuls  of  this 
year.  Cato,  soon  after  his  arrival,  defeated  a  large  army 
of  the  natives,  and  he  then  had  recourse  to  the  following 
-stratagem.     When  deputations  came  to  him  from  the  several 

*  Appian's  Iberica  is  the  principal  authority  for  this  chapter. 


276  HISTORY    OP   HOME. 

towns,  he  as  usual  demanded  hostages,  and  sent  sealed  letters 
to  each,  directing  them,  under  pain  of  slavery  in  case  of 
delay,  to  throw  down  their  walls.  These  letters  he  took  care 
should  all  arrive  on  the  same  day;  there  was  consequently 
no  time  for  deliberation  ;  each  thought  itself  alone  interested, 
his  commands  were  every  where  obeyed,  and  the  whole  coun- 
try thus  reduced  to  tranquillity.  Cato  then  put  the  silver  and 
iron  mines  on  an  advantageous  footing  for  the  state,  and  he 
triumphed  on  his  return  the  following  year.  Spain  was  now 
divided  into  two  provinces,  named  Citerior  and  Ulterior  with 
respect  to  the  river  Ebro.  ' 

The  restless  temper  of  the  natives,  and  the  ambition  and 
cupidity  of  the  Roman  generals,  would  not  however  allow 
of  permanent  tranquillity,  and  hardly  a  year  passed  without 
fighting.  Tib.  Sempronius  Gracchus,  when  praetor  in  Spain, 
(572,)  arranged  the  relations  between  the  Romans  and  the 
native  population  in  a  manner  which  gained  him  general 
applause.  By  one  of  his  regulations,  the  Spaniards  were 
bound  not  to  build  any  more  towns;  when  therefore  the  Gel- 
tiberians  of  Segeda  increased  the  compass  of  their  walls,  and 
removed  the  people  of  the  smaller  towns  to  it,  the  senate 
sent  to  forbid  them,  and  as  they  did  not  comply  with  the  de- 
mands made  on  them,  the  consul  d.  Fulvius  Nobilior  led  an 
army  against  them,  (599 ;)  but  the  advantage  in  the  campaign 
was  on  the  side  of  the  Celtiberians.  The  consul  of  the  next 
year,  (600,)  M.  Claudius  Marcellus,  when  the  senate  had 
refused  the  Celtiterians  peace,  attacked  and  reduced  them 
to  submission.  His  successor,  L.  Licinius  Lucullfts,  (601,) 
though  the  country  was  tranquil,  would  not  be  balked  of  his 
hopes  of  fame  and  booty.  He  crossed  the  Tagus,  and,  with- 
out any  pretext,  entering  the  Vaccaean  territory,  laid  siege 
to  the  town  of  Cauca,  (Coca ;)  and  the  people  thus  wantonly 
attacked  were  obliged  to  give  hostages  and  one  hundred 
talents  of  money,  and  to  send  their  horse  to  serve  with  him. 
He  then  required  them  to  receive  a  garrison ;  and  on  their 
consenting,  he  put  two  thousand  of  his  best  troops  into  the 
town,  with  directions  to  occupy  the  walls.  When  they  had 
done  so,  he  led  in  the  rest  of  his  army,  and  gave  the  signal 
for  a  general  massacre  of  the  male  population,  and  of  twenty 
thousand  souls  but  a  few  escaped ;  he  then  plundered  the 
town.  After  this  vile  piece  of  treachery  he  advanced  through 
a  country  which  the  inhabitants  had  purposely  laid  waste, 
and  sat  down  before  a  town  named  Intercatia ;  whence,  after 
the  army  had  suffered  severely  from  hardship,  want  of  neces- 


LUSITANIAN    WAR.  277 

saries,  and  the  incessant  attacks  of  the  enemy,  he  was  glad, 
through  the  mediation  of  his  legate  Scipio,  (the  future  con- 
queror of  Carthage,)  —  for  the  people  would  not  trust  him- 
self,—  to  retire,  on  receiving  hostages,  a  certain  number 
of  cattle,  and  ten  thousand  cloaks  {sages)  for  his  soldiers. 
Gold  and  silver,  which  he  chiefly  coveted,  they  had  not  to 
give.  He  then  went  to  winter  in  Turditania.  The  historian 
remarks  that  he  never  was  brought  to  trial  at  home  for  thus 
warring  on  his  own  account. 

Meantime  the  Lusitanians,  one  of  the  independent  tribes 
of  the  peninsula,  had  ravaged  the  lands  of  the  subjects  of 
Rome,  and  defeated  the  praetors,  M'  Manilius  and  L.  Calpur- 
nius  Piso,  and  the  quaestor  C.  Terentius  Varro.  They  after- 
wards defeated  L.  Mummius,  the  future  conqueror  of  Greece, 
who  had  taken  the  command.  The  Lusitanians  south  of  the 
Tagus  now  shared  in  the  war ;  a  part  of  their  forces  crossed 
over  to  ravage  Africa,  while  another  part  besieged  a  town 
named  Ocila ;  but  Mummius  fell  on  them  and  routed  them 
with  great  slaughter,  by  which  he  gained  the  glory  of  a 
triumph.  His  successor,  M.  Atilius  Serranus,  reduced  a  part 
of  them  to  submission ;  but  when  he  went  into  winter  quar- 
ters, they  rose  again  and  laid  siege  to  some  of  the  subject 
towns.  Ser.  Sulpicius  Galba,  the  successor  •f  Atilius, 
coming  to  the  relief  of  one  of  these  towns,  was  defeated,  with 
the  loss  of  seven  thousand  men,  and  was  forced  to  fly. 

This  was  at  the  time  Lucullus  was  in  Spain ;  and  in  the 
spring  (602)  he  and  Galba  simultaneously  attacked  the  Lusi- 
tanians, the  former  in  the  south,  the  latter  in  the  north. 
Lucullus,  having  fallen  on  and  cut  to  pieces  those  who  were 
returning  from  Africa,  entered  Lusitania  and  laid  a  part  of  it 
waste.  Galba  invaded  the  country  on  the  north ;  and  when 
some  of  the  tribes  sent  embassies  to  him,  proposing  to  renew 
the  peace  made  with  Atilius  which  they  had  broken,  he 
received  them  kindly,  affecting  to  pity  them,  laying  the  whole 
blame  of  their  predatory  habits  on  the  poverty  of  their  soil, 
and  offering  to  give  them,  as  his  friends,  abundance  of  fertile 
land.  The  simple  people  gladly  embraced  the  offer^  and 
leaving  their  mountains  came  down  to  the  plains  which  he 
pointed  out  to  them.  These  were  in  three  several  places; 
and  he  directed  each  portion  of  them  to  remain  there  till  he 
came  to  regulate  them.  Then  coming  to  the  first,  he  desired 
them  as  friends  to  put  away  their  arms ;  when  they  had  done 
so,  he  raised  a  rampart  and  ditch  about  them,  (tlieir  future 
town  as  it  were,)  and  sending  in  a  party  of  soldiers  armed 
24 


278  HISTORY   OP   ROME. 

with  swords  massacred  all  who  were  in  it.  He  did  the  same 
at  the  other  two  places,  and  but  a  few  escaped  being  the 
victims  of  this  detestable  piece  of  treachery.* 

About  ten  thousand  of  those  who  had  escaped  from  Lu- 
cullus  and  Galba  assembled  the  next  year  (603)  and  invaded 
Turditania.  The  praetor  C.  Vetilius  marched  against  them, 
and  succeeded  in  driving  them  into  a  position  where,  to  all 
appearance,  they  must  either  perish  by  hunger  or  face  the 
Roman  sword.  They  sent  to  sue  for  lands,  offering  to  be- 
come Roman  subjects.  Vetilius  consented  to  their  request ; 
but  Viriathus,  one  of  those  who  had  escaped  from  Galba, 
reminding  them  of  Roman  treachery,  bade  them  beware,  and 
pledged  himself  to  extricate  them  if  they  would  be  guided  by 
him.  They  chose  him  general  on  the  spot ;  he  drew  them 
up  in  line  of  battle,  directing  them  to  scatter  when  they  saw 
him  mount  his  horse,  and  make  as  best  they  could  for  the 
town  of  Tribula.  All  was  done  accordingly  ;  Viriathus  re- 
mained at  the  head  of  one  thousand  horse.  Vetilius  feared 
to  divide  his  troops  to  pursue  the  fugitives  ;  Viriathus  kept 
the  Romans  occupied  the  whole  of  that  day  and  the  next, 
and  then  by  ways  with  which  he  was  well  acquainted 
rejoined  his  men  at  Tribula.  This  stratagem  gained  him 
great  fame  among  his  countrymen,  and  his  army  was  speedily 
augmented.  When  Vetilius  soon  after  came  against  Tri- 
bula, the  Lusitanian  laid  an  ambush,  and  slew  the  pr^Btor 
himself  and  nearly  half  his  army. 

By  his  accurate  knowledge  of  the  country,  by  his  military 
skill  and  fertility  in  resources,  and  by  possessing  the  confi- 
dence and  affections  of  the  native  tribes,  Viriathus  succeeded 
during  five  years  in  baffling  or  defeating  all  the  Roman 
generals  sent  against  him. 

At  length  (607)  the  senate,  Carthage  and  Greece  being 
now  reduced,  resolved  to  prosecute  with  vigor  the  Lusita- 
nian war,  which  had  assumed  a  formidable  appearance.  It 
was  therefore  committed  to  the  consul  Q.  Fabius  Maximus 
JEmilianus,  the  son  of  JSmilius  Paulus,  and  brother  of  the 
conqueror  of  Carthage.  As  the  troops  which  he  brought 
out  were  mostly  composed  of  raw  recruits,  he  avoided  giving 
battle  for  a  long  time  ;  at  length  he  engaged  and  defeated 

*  Galba  was  prosecuted  for  this  conduct  Inr  the  tribune  L.  Scribo- 
nius,  aided  by  M.  Porcius  Cato,  now  in  his  85th  year.  He  escaped  by 
appealing  to  the  compassion  of  the  people,  producing  his  young  chil- 
dren to  move  their  pity.  Cruelty  and  meanness  often  go  together. 
(Cic.  Orat.  i.  53.) 


VIRIATHIAN    WAR.  279 

Viriathus,  and  took  two  Lusitanian  towns,  Viriathus  how- 
ever succeeded  in  gaining  over  to  his  side  the  greater  part  of 
the  Celtiberian  tribes,  and  he  still  harassed  incessantly  the 
Roman  subjects.  In  610  the  consul  Q,.  Fabius  Maximus 
Servilianus,  the  adoptive  brother  of  iEmilianus,  came  out, 
bringing  with  him  eighteen  thousand  foot  and  one  thousand 
six  hundred  horse.  He  sent  to  Micipsa,  of  Numidia  for 
elephants,  and  when  they  arrived  he  advanced  against  Viria- 
thus, and  defeated  him  ;  but  the  Lusitanian,  seeing  the  Ro- 
mans scattered  in  the  pursuit,  turned  back,  and  having  killed 
three  thousand,  drove  the  rest  into  their  camp,  which  he 
would  have  stormed  but  that  night  came  on.  By  making 
attacks  in  the  night  or  during  the  heat  of  the  day,  he  so 
worried  and  harassed  the  Roman  army  that  he  at  length 
forced  them  to  retreat  to  the  town  of  Itucca,  whither  he 
pursued  them  ;  but  want  of  supplies  and  loss  of  men  obliged 
him  to  return  to  Lusitania.  Servilianus  then  again  invaded 
that  country ;  but  as  he  was  besieging  a  place  named  Eri- 
sane,  Viriathus,  who  had  entered  the  town  by  night,  headed 
a  sally  in  the  morning,  drove  off  those  who  were  digging 
the  trench,  attacked  the  rest  of  the  army,  and  chased  it  into 
a  position  whence  there  was  no  escape.  The  Lusitanian 
used  his  advantage  nobly  and  moderately ;  he  proposed  a 
peace,  on  the  terms  of  his  being  recognized  as  a  friend  of 
Rome,  and  all  those  whom  he  commanded  being  secured  in 
the  possession  of  their  territory.  The  consul  gladly  accept- 
ed these  terms,  peace  was  concludec^  and  the  senate  and 
people  of  Rome  confirmed  it. 

But  Cn.  Servilius  Caepio,  the  brother  and  successor  of 
Servilianus,  (611,)  was  by  no  means  pleased  at  losing  his 
chance  of  iame  and  plunder.  He  wrote  home  describing 
the  peace  as  highly  disgraceful  to  Rome.  The  senate  gave 
him  leave  to  harass  and  provoke  Viriathus  in  secret;  but 
this  did  not  content  him,  and  on  his  repeated  instances  he 
received  permission  to  make  war  openly.  He  came  up 
with  the  army  of  Viriathus,  far  inferior  in  number,  in  Car- 
petania.  The  Lusitanian,  not  venturing  to  engage  him, 
drew  up  his  horse  on  an  eminence,  and  sent  off  the  rest  of 
his  troops  by  a  deep  glen  ;  and  when  he  thought  them  in 
safety  he  rode  after  them,  in  the  presence  of  Caepio,  with 
/such  speed  as  to  baffle  pursuit.  Some  time  after,  however, 
[he  sent  three  of  his  friends  to  propose  a  peace  :  but  the  un- 
worthy Roman,  by  gifts  and  promises,  prevailed  on  them 
to  engage  to  assassinate  their  chief     It  was  Viriathus'  cus- 


280  HISTOtlT   OF   ROME. 

torn  to  sleep  in  his  armor,  but  his  officers  had  free  access 
to  his  tent  at  all  hours.  The  traitors  took  advantage  of  this, 
and  going  in  just  as  he  had  fallen  asleep,  killed  him  with 
one  blow ;  they  then  fled  to  Caepio  to  claim  their  reward, 
and  he  sent  them  to  Rome  to  claim  it  there. 

The  Lusitanians  deeply  mourned  their  valiant,  able,  and 
noble-minded  leader,  and  celebrated  his  obsequies  with  all 
the  pomp  and  magnificence  in  use  among  them.  They  ap- 
pointed a  chief  named  Tantalus  to  take  his  place ;  but 
Viriathus  was  not  to  be  replaced,  and  they  were  obliged  to 
submit  to  Csepio,  give  up  their  arms,  and  take  the  land  he 
assigned  them. 

The  war  which  Viriathus  had  kindled  in  Citerior  Spain 
now  drew  the  attention  of  the  Romans.  The  chief  seat  of 
this  war  was  the  city  of  Numantia,  which  lay  in  the  present 
Old  Castile.  It  was  built  on  a  steep  hill  of  moderate  height, 
being  accessible  only  on  one  side ;  the  river  Durius  (Douro) 
and  another  stream  ran  by  it,  and  it  was  surrounded  by 
woods.  It  contained,  it  is  said^  only  eight  thousand  fighting 
men,  but  these  were  all  first-rate  soldiers,  both  horse  and 
foot.  Fulvius  Nobilior,  in  the  year  599,  had  first  wantonly 
attacked  Numantia ;  Marcellus  and  Lucullus  also  turned 
their  arms  and  arts  against  the  Numantines,  who  therefore 
readily  entered  into  an  alliance  with  the  Lusitanian  hero. 
In  the  year  612,  Q.  Porapeius,  (the  first  consul  of  his  name,) 
having  received  from  his  predecessor  L.  Metellus  Macedo- 
nicus,*  a  well-disciplined  army  of  thirty  thousand  foot  and 
two  thousand  horse,  laid  siege  to  Numantia ;  but  he  met 
with  nothing  but  disgrace  and  defeat ;  his  army  was  at- 
tacked by  disease,  and  he  was  forced  to  disperse  it  through 
the  towns  for  the  winter.  Wishing  to  end  the  war  before 
his  successor  should  come  out  in  the  spring,  he  entered 
into  secret  negotiations  with  the  Numantines,  who  were 
extremely  desirous  of  peace,  and  at  his  suggestion  they 
sent  an  embassy  to  him.  In  public  he  demanded  uncon- 
ditional submission,  as  alone  worthy  of  Rome;  in  private 
he  declared  he  would  be  satisfied  if  they  gave  hostages  and 

*  This  was  one  of  the  best  men  Rome  ever  produced.  As  he  was 
besieging  in  this  war  the  town  of  Nertobriga,  the  people,  to  punish 
one  of  their  citizens  who  had  gone  over  to  the  Romans,  exposed  his 
children  to  the  battering  rams.  The  father  cried  out  not  to  heed 
them,  but  the  generous  Metellus  gave  up  the  siege,  sooner  than  in- 
jure them.  The  fame  of  this  humane  act  caused  many  towns  to  sur- 
render.   Flor.  ii.  17.    Val.  Max.  v.  1,  5. 


NUMANTINE    WAR.  281 

thirty  talents  in  money,  and  delivered  up  the  prisoners  and 
deserters.  They  agreed,  and  all  was  concluded  except  the 
payment  of  a  part  of  the  money,  when  M.  Popillius  Laenas 
came  out  to  take  the  command.  Pompeius  then  turned 
round  and  denied  having  made  any  convention  with  them ; 
they  appealed  to  his  own  officers  who  were  present.  Popil- 
lius sent  them  to  Rome,  and  the  senate  having  heard  them 
and  Pompeius,  sent  orders  to  Popillius  to  prosecute  the  war. 
He  accordingly  commenced  operations  against  Numantia, 
but  he  was  utterly  defeated  by  its  gallant  defenders. 

In  615,  the  consul  C.  Hostilius  Mancinus  appeared  before 
Numantia,  but  in  every  encounter  he  was  worsted  ;  and  on 
a  false  report  of  the  approach  of  the  Cantabrians  and  Vac- 
caeans  to  relieve  the  town,  he  fled  in  the  night,  and  took 
refuge  in  the  old  camp  left  by  Nobilior  :  here  he  was  sur- 
rounded by  the  Numantines,  and  no  chance  appearing  of 
escape,  he  sent  to  propose  a  peace.  The  Numantines  would 
only  treat  with  his  quaestor  Ti.  Sempronius  Gracchus,  the 
son  of  him  who  had  regulated  the  state  of  Spain,  and  Grac- 
chus succeeded  in  concluding  an  honorable  peace,  and  thus 
saving  a  Roman  army  of  twenty  thousand  men.  But  at 
Rome  this  treaty  caused  high  displeasure ;  some  were  for 
giving  up  to  the  enemy  all  concerned  in  it,  as  had  been 
done  at  the  Caudine  Forks  ;  but  the  influence  of  Gracchus' 
friends  prevailed,  and  it  was  thought  sufficient  to  deliver  up 
the  general.  Mancinus,  who  offered  himself  a  voluntary 
victim,  was  taken  by  his  successor  P.  Furius,  and  handed 
over  naked  and  in  bonds  to  the  Numantines ;  but,  like  Pon- 
tius, they  refused  to  receive  him. 

During  this  time  Mancinus'  colleague,  M.  ^Emilius  Lepi- 
dus,  not  to  be  idle,  made  war  of  himself  on  the  Vaccaeans, 
under  the  pretext  of  their  having  supplied  provisions  to  the 
Numantines,  and  he  laid  siege  to  their  chief  town  Pallantia, 
The  senate,  loath  to  engage  in  a  new  war  at  this  time,  sent 
out  to  stop  him  ;  but  he  wrote  to  say  that  he  knew  the  real 
state  of  things  better  than  they,  and  that  all  Spain  would 
rise  if  the  Romans  showed  any  symptoms  of  fear.  He  then 
went  on  with  the  war  ;  but  his  hopes  of  glory  and  booty 
were  foully  disappointed  :  after  a  great  loss  of  men  and 
beasts  he  was  obliged  to  raise  the  siege  and  fly  in  the  night, 
leaving  his  sick  and  wounded  behind  him.  The  people  of 
Rome  deprived  him  of  his  office,  and  fined  him  heavily.  It 
is  not  quite  certain  that  such  would  have  been  the  case  if 
24*  jj 


282  HISTORY    OF    ROME. 

he  had  been  victorious.  The  consul  Q,.  Calpurnius  Piso 
(617)  did  not  venture  to  engage  the  Numantines,  contenting 
himself  with  plundering  the  lands  of  Pallantia. 

It  was  now  become  evident  that  the  Numantine  war  de- 
ipanded  Rome's  ablest  general ;  the  people  therefore  resolved 
to  raise  Scipio  Africanus  a  second  time  to  the  consulate  for 
this  purpose,  (618,)  the  law  forbidding  any  one  to  be  consul 
a  second  time  being  suspended  in  his  favor.  As  there  were 
so  many  troops  already  in  Spain,  no  legions  were  raised,  but 
the  name  of  Scipio  brought  together  about  four  thousand 
volunteers ;  and  giving  the  charge  of  them  to  his  brother 
Fabius  Maximus,  he  passed  over  himself  at  once  to  Spain. 
Here  he  found  the  army  in  such  a  state  of  demoralization, 
that  nothing  could  be  undertaken  till  its  discipline  was  re- 
stored. He  forthwith  gave  orders  for  all  sutlers,  harlots, 
diviners  and  priests,  (for  ill  success  had  as  usual  produced 
superstition,)  to  quit  the  camp.  He  directed  all  the  need- 
less wagons  and  beasts  of  burden  to  be  sold  ;  forbade  the 
soldiers  to  have  any  cooking  utensils  but  a  spit  and  a  brass 
pot,  or  to  use  any  food  but  plain  roast  and  boiled  meat,  or 
to  have  more  than  one  drinking-cup  ;  he  also  obliged  them 
to  sleep  on  the  ground,  himself  setting  them  the  example. 
By  various  regulations  of  this  kind,  he  got  the  troops  into 
good  order,  and  having  seasoned  them  by  marches  and  coun- 
termarches, making  them  dig  trenches  and  fill  them  up 
again,  raise  walls  and  throw  them  down,  he  led  them  into 
the  VaccsBan  territory,  whence  the  Numantines  drew  their 
chief  supplies,  and  laid  it  waste,  and  then  took  up  his 
winter  quarters  in  that  of  Numantia.  While  here  he  was 
joined  by  Jugurtha,  the  nephew  of  Micipsa  king  of  Nu- 
midia,  with  twelve  elephants  and  a  body  of  horse  and  light 
troops. 

In  the  spring  (619)  Scipio  formed  two  camps  in  the  vi- 
cinity of  Numantia  under  himself  and  his  brother.  His  plan 
being  to  starve  the  town,  he  refused  all  offers  of  battle  ;  he 
divided  his  army  into  different  portions,  and  raised  ramparts 
and  towers  round  the  town,  except  where  it  was  washed  by 
the  Durius  ;  and  to  prevent  provisions  or  intelligence  being 
conveyed  in  by  boats  or  by  divers,  he  placed  guards  on  the 
river  above  and  below,  and  from  these  stations  he  let  long 
beams  of  timber,  armed  with  swords  and  darts  and  fastened 
by  ropes  to  the  shore,  float  along  the  stream,  which  being 
very  rapid  kept  whirling  them  round  and  round,  so  that 


NUMANTINE    WAR.  283 

nothing  could  pass.  The  works  round  the  town  were  six 
miles  in  circuit,  those  of  the  town  being  three  miles;  and 
the  besieging  army  counted  sixty  thousand  men. 

The  Numantines  made  several  gallant  but  fruitless  at- 
tacks on  the  Roman  works.  Hunger  began  to  be  felt,  aud 
all  communication  with  their  friends  was  cut  off.  A  man 
named  Retogenes,  we  are  told,  having  engaged  five  of  his 
friends  to  join  in  the  attempt,  they  went  one  dark  night, 
each  with  his  horse  and  a  servant,  up  to  the  Roman  works, 
with  a  ladder  made  for  the  purpose.  Having  ascended,  they 
fell  on  and  slew  the  guards  on  each  side,  and  then  getting 
up  their  horses,*  they  sent  back  their  servants,  and  mounted 
and  rode  to  solicit  the  Druacians  to  aid  their  kinsmen  of 
Numantia ;  but  their  terror  of  the  Romans  was  too  great  to 
allow  them.  The  Numantines  then  went  to  a  town  named 
Lutia  :  here  the  young  men  were  for  giving  aid,  but  the 
elders  sent  secretly  to  inform  Scipio.  It  was  the  eighth  hour 
when  the  word  came;  he  collected  what  troops  he  wanted, 
and  though  the  distance  was  forty  miles  he  reached  Lutia 
by  dawn.  He  demanded  the  principal  of  the  youth  ;  he  was 
told  they  were  gone  away  ;  he  threatened  to  plunder  the 
town  if  they  were  not  produced ;  they  were  then  brought, 
to  the  number  of  four  hundred ;  he  cut  off  their  hands,  left 
the  town,  and  at  dawn  next  day  reentered  his  camp. 

The  Numantines  hopeless  of  relief,  now  sent  five  depu- 
ties, offering  to  surrender  if  they  could  obtain  moderate 
terms.  The  unfeeling  Roman  would  grant  no  conditions : 
the  Numantines  would  not  yet  surrender  at  discretion.  But 
the  famine  grew  sorer  every  day  ;  they  ate  leather  and  other 
nauseous  substances,  and  even,  it  is  said,  began  to  feed  on 
human  flesh.  They  sent  once  more  to  Scipio  ;  he  desired 
them  to  give  up  their  arms  on  that  day,  and  repair  on  the 
next  to  a  certain  place.  They  asked  a  respite  of  one  day, 
and  in  that  time  their  leading  men  put  an  end  to  themselves. 
On  the  third  day  a  miserable  remnant  came  forth ;  Scipio 
selected  fifty  to  adorn  his  triumph,  the  rest  he  sold  fo^ 
slaves;  t  he  then  levelled  the  town,  and  divided  its  territory 
among  its  neighbors.  He  triumphed  on  his  return,  and 
was  named  Numanticus.  Little,  however,  on  this  occasion 
was  the  real  glory  of  Scipio  or  of  Rome.     An  army  of  sixty 

*  If  this  story  be  true,  the  ladder  must  have  been  broad  and  boarded, 
so  that  the  horses  could  walk  up  it. 

t  According  to  Florus  and  Orosius,  all  the  Numantines  put  an  end 
to  themselves,  after  burning  their  arms,  goods,  and  houses. 


284  HISTORY    OF    ROME. 

thousand  men  starved  out  one  of  four  thousand,  to  whom 
they  would  give  no  opportunity  of  fighting :  a  people  who 
had  generously  granted  life  and  liberty  to  twenty  thousand 
Romans,  were  attacked,  in  breach  of  a  solemn  treaty,  and 
destroyed,  because  they  maintained  their  liberty. 

In  the  year  614  the  consul  D.  Junius  Brutus  had  entered 
Lusitania,  and  having  subdued  the  country  south  of  the 
Durius,  he  crossed  that  river  and  advanced  to  the  Minius, 
(Minho,)  which  he  also  passed,  (616.:)  he  made  war  suc- 
cessfully on  the  Callseci,  who  dwelt  to  the  north  of  it,  and 
obtained  the  title  of  Callaicus. 

The  year  after  the  capture  of  Numantia  the  consul  P.  Ru- 
pilius  terminated  a  war  which  had  been  going  on  for  some 
years  in  Sicily.     It  had  thus  originated.* 

In  this  fertile  island,  the  wealthy  natives,  and  the  Roman 
speculators  who  had  made  purchases  in  it,  were  in  posses- 
sion of  large  tracts  of  land.  As  the  cheapest  mode  of  cul- 
tivating them,  they  bought  whole  droves  of  slaves  at  the 
various  slave-marts,  whom  they  branded  and  placed  on  their 
estates.  These  men,  who  seem  to  have  been  mostly  Asiatics, 
were  treated  with  great  cruelty,  and  so  stinted  in  food  that 
they  used  to  go  out  in  gangs,  (it  is  added,  with  their  mas- 
ters' permission,)  and  rob  on  the  highways,  and  even  attack 
and  plunder  the  villages ;  and  the  influence  of  their  masters 
was  so  great  at  Rome  that  the  praBtors  did  not  venture  to 
suppress  this  disorder.  The  slaves  thus  got  union  and  a 
kind  of  discipline  :  they  learned  their  own  strength,  and 
began  to  form  plots. 

Among  the  slaves  was  a  Syrian  named  Eunus,  who  af- 
fected to  be  inspired  by  the  Syrian  goddess  :  by  various 
juggling  tricks  he  attained  great  repute  among  his  fellows, 
and  he  publicly  declared  himself  destined  to  be  a  king.  A 
wealthy  Sicilian  named  Damophilus,  who  resided  at  Enna, 
treated  his  slaves  with  remarkable  rigor,  and  his  wife 
equalled  him  in  cruelty;  their  wretched  slaves  therefore 
formed  a  plot  to  murder  them  ;  but  they  previously  resolved 
to  consult  the  prophet.  Eunus  promised  them  success ; 
they  placed  him  at  their  head,  and  to  the  number  of  four 
hundred  entered  Enna,  where  they  were  joined  by  their 
fellow-slaves,  and  committed  excesses  of  all  kinds.  Damo- 
philus and  his  wife  were  seized  and  brought  before  their 
tribunal ;  as  he  was  pleading  for  his  life  two  of  the  slaves 

*  Diodorus,  xxxiV.     Florus,  iii.  19. 


ROMAN  GOVERNMENT.  285 

fell  on  and  slew  him;  his  wife  was  given  up  to  her  female 
slaves,  who,  when  they  had  tortured  her,  cast  her  down  a 
precipice ;  but  their  daughter,  who  had  always  been  kind 
and  humane  to  the  slaves,  was  treated  with  the  utmost  con- 
sideration, and  sent,  under  the  escort  of  some  whose  honor 
and  fidelity  could  be  relied  on,  to  her  relations  at  Catana.* 

Eunus  now  assumed  royalty.  In  three  days  he  had  an 
army  of  six  thousand  men,  armed  with  axes,  scythes,  spits, 
etc.;  it  gradually  increased  to.  beyond  ten  thousand  ;  he 
defeated  the  troops  of  the  praetor  P.  Manilius,  (616) ;  and 
the  same  fate  befell  P.  Lentulus  the  following  year.  A  Ci- 
lician  slave  named  Cleon,  in  imitation  of  Eunus,  put  himself 
at  the  head  of  another  body  of  slaves,  and  plundered  Agri- 
gentum  and  its  territory.  It  was  expected  that  these  leaders 
would  turn  their  arms  against  each  other ;  but,  on  the  con- 
trary, Cleon  placed  himself  under  the  command  of  Eunus, 
and  their  forces  at  length,  it  is  said,  increased  to  200,000 
men. 

The  prsBtor  L.  Plautius  Hypsaeus  was  defeated  by  the 
rebels,  (618,)  and  the  consul  C.  Fulvius  Flaccus  met  with 
little  success ;  the  next  consul,  L.  Calpurnius  Piso,  defeated 
them  before  Messana,  and  his  successor,  P.  Rupilius,  (620,) 
ended  the  war,  their  strongholds,  Tauromenium  and  Enna, 
being  betrayed  to  him  :  numbers  of  the  rebels  were  slain  in 
battle  or  crucified ;  Cleon  fell  fighting  like  a  hero ;  Eunus 
was  made  a  prisoner,  and  he  expired  in  a  dungeon  at  Mur- 
gentia. 


We  will  conclude  this  Part  by  a  few  observations  on  the 
foreign  policy  and  government  of  the  Romans  at  this  time, 
and  the  state  of  their  literature. 

It  was  always  Rome's  policy  to  form  alliances,  if  possible, 
with  the  neighbors,  or  natural  enemies  as  they  are  called,  of 
any  state  with  which  she  was  at  war.  We  thus  find  that  in 
479  a  Roman  embassy  appeared  at  Alexandria  in  Egypt, 
and  concluded  an  alliance  with  Ptolemseus  Philadelphus,  the 
object  of  which  was  a  joint  war  against  Pyrrhus,  who  was 
now  become  formidable  ;  but  the  death  of  that  prince  the 
following  year  made  the  treaty  of  no  effect.     The  feeble 

v.,  ■ 

*  What  was  Scipio's  boasted  virtue  to  this  ? 


286  HISTOBY    OF    ROME. 

successors  of  the  Egyptian  king  continued  to  regard  the 
Romans  as  their  protectors,  and  the  year  586  offers  a  re- 
markable instance  of  the  Roman  influence.  Antiochus 
Epiphanes  had  invaded  Egypt;  Rome  was  applied  to;  an 
embassy,  headed  by  M.  Popillius  Laenas,  came  out.  Antio- 
chus offered  his  hand  to  Popillius,  who  declined  it,  till  the 
king  should  have  read  the  letter  of  the  senate,  ordering  him 
out  of  Egypt.  Having  perused  it,  he  said  he  would  advise 
with  his  friends.  Popillius,  drawing  a  circle  round  him  with 
a  wand,  desired  him  not  to  leave  it  till  he  had  given  him  a 
reply.  The  king  then  said  that  he  would  obey  the  senate, 
and  the  haughty  envoy  at  length  condescended  to  give  him 
his  hand. 

The  kings  of  Pergamus  and  Bithynia  were  the  obedient 
slaves  of  the  Roman  senate,  who  employed  them  against  the 
kings  of  Macedonia  and  Syria;  and  as,  lion-like,  Rome 
always  gave  her  jackals  a  share  of  the  prey,  their  dominions 
were  augmented  by  her  victories.  The  meanness  of  Prusias 
of  Bithynia  was  unparalleled ;  he  styled  himself  the  freed- 
man  of  the  Romans,  and  would  go  out  to  meet  their  ambas- 
sadors with  a  shaven  head  and  the  freedman's  cap,  (pileus,) 
as  being  just  emancipated.  Attains  III,  of  Pergamus,  dying 
(619)  without  issue,  left  his  kingdom  to  the  Roman  people.* 

Snch  portions  of  their  conquests  as  they  did  not  leave  with 
their  rightful  owners,  or  give  away,  the  Romans  reduced  to 
provinces,  which  were  governed  by  those  who  had  borne  the 
offices  of  consul  and  praetor  at  Rome.  The  power  of  these 
Roman  governors  was  nearly  as  despotic  as  that  of  the 
Turkish  pashas,  and  they  but  too  often  plundered  the  un- 
happy provincials  in  a  dreadful  manner  ;  the  conduct  of  the 
infamous  Verres,  as  detailed  by  Cicero  in  his  pleadings 
against  him,  though  an  extreme  case,  will  show  to  what 
lengths  robbery  and  extortion  might  be,  and  sometimes  were, 
carried  by  Roman  praetors  and  proconsuls.  What  aug- 
mented the  evil  was,  that  the  office  of  governor  was  annual, 
and  each  governor  was  attended  by  a  cohort  of  officers, 
friends,  and  dependents,  who  had  to  make  their  fortunes 
also,  so  that  (though  the  command  was  sometimes  prolonged,) 
the  provinces  had  every  year  to  expect  a  new  swarm  of 
bloodsuckers  to  feed  on  them.  These  governments  were,  in 
fact,  the  chief  objects  of  ambition  among  the  Roman  nobility, 

*  Mithrid^tes,  in  his  letter  to  Arsaces,  (Sallust,  Fragm.)  says  that 
the  will  was  a  forgery. 


ROMAN    GOVERNMENT.  287 

Who  looked  forward  to  them  as  the  sources  of  wealth  and 
fame ;  for  besides  robbing  those  whom  they  were  sent  to 
protect,  it  was  easy  for  them  to  pick  a  quarrel  with  some 
neighboring  tribe  or  nation,  slaughter  a  few  thousands  of 
them,  and  thence  acquire  plunder,  and,  on  their  return  home, 
the  honor  of  a  triumph.  The  only  remedy  the  provincials 
had,  when  oppressed,  was  a  prosecution  for  extortion,  {rerum 
repetundarum,)  which  they  always  found  some  one  at  Rome 
ready  to  undertake  ;  but  this  was  in  general  but  poor  satis- 
faction, and  the  dread  of  it  often  caused  the  robbery  to  be 
the  greater,  as  the  plunderers  had  to  get  the  means  of  bribing 
their  judges  and  advocates;  thus  Verres,  who  had  pillaged 
Sicily  for  three  years,  declared  that  he  would  be  content  if 
he  could  keep  the  plunder  of  but  one  year.* 

Another  great  source  of  misery  to  the  subjects  was  the 
Roman  custom  of  farming  out  all  the  revenues  of  the  state. 
There  was  a  large  body  of  capitalists  at  Rome,  chiefly  con- 
sisting of  the  equestrian  order,  divided  into  companies,  who 
took  all  the  government  contracts,  farmed  all  the  revenues, 
and  lent  their  money  on  high  interest  at  Rome,  on  exorbi- 
tant interest  in  the  provinces.  They  were  named  Publicans, 
{Publicdni,)  as  farming  the  public  revenues :  their  wealth 
gave  them  such  influence  at  Rome  that  they  could  dispose 
of  political  power  as  they  pleased ;  and  between  exorbitant 
interest  for  their  money  (we  find  most  respectable  men 
charging  48  per  cent.)  and  excessive  tolls  and  customs,  they 
ground  down,  and  alienated  and  exasperated  the  minds  of, 
the  provincials.  Even  in  the  year  585  the  senate,  when 
regulating  Macedonia,  declared  that  the  gold  and  silver 
mines  should  not  be  wrought,  or  the  domain-lands  let,  be- 
cause it  could  not  be  done  without  the  publicans,  "  and 
where  there  is  a  publican,"  said  they,  "  the  public  right  is 
vain,  or  the  liberty  of  the  allies  is  tiought."t 

In  the  internal  condition  of  the  Roman  state  at  this  period 
we  have  to  observe  the  absence  of  all  civil  commotions,  the 

*  Another  evil  were  the  Free  Legations.  When  a  man  of  rank  had 
Any  private  business  to  transact  in  the  provinces,  he  applied  to  .the 
senate  for  a  free  legation,  as  it  was  called,  that  is,  to  be  appointed  a 
supernumerary  or  unattached  legate  (as  we  may  term  it)  to  the  gov- 
ernor of  the  province.  He  was  thus  invested  with  a  public  character, 
and  entitled  to  make  demands  on  the  subjects  for  lodging,  &c.  at  free 
cost ;  and  this  was  easily  converted  into  a  means  of  plunder  and 
extortion. 

t  Liv.  xlv.  18. 


HISTOBT   OF    ROME. 

foreign  wars  which  prevailed  all  through  it  giving  ample 
employment  for  all  orders  of  the  people ;  but  the  lower  or- 
ders, by  constant  service  abroad,  gradually  lost  the  character 
of  the  simple  rustic  plebeian  in  that  of  the  soldier ;  and  the 
generals,  to  gain  the  votes  of  the  troops  at  elections,  acquired 
the  pernicious  habit  of  seeking  to  win  their  favor  by  gifts 
and  by  the  relaxation  Of  discipline ;  whence  in  the  later  wars 
of  this  time  we  find  the  Roman  arms  unfortunate,  till  a 
Scipio  or  an  iEmilius  Paulus  comes  to  restore  discipline. 

The  superstition  of  the  Romans  at  this  time  is  also  de- 
serving of  notice.  Every  year,  as  regular  as  the  election  of 
magistrates^  is  the  expiation  of  prodigies,  such  as  temples, 
walls,  and  gates  being  struck  with  lightning,  showers  of 
stones^  milk,  or  blood,  oxen  or  babes  in  the  womb  speaking, 
lambs  yeaned  with  two  heads,  cocks  turned  into  hens,  and 
vice  versa,  mice  gnawing  gold,  etc.  etc. ;  to  obviate  the  ill 
effects  of  which,  victims  were  slain  and  supplications  offered 
to  the  gods  by  orders  of  the  senate  ;  partly,  it  is  probable, 
merely  in  compliance  with  the  popular  superstition,  in  part 
also  from  their  sharing  in  it. 

Rome  at  tjsrfs  time  began  to  form  the  literature  Which  has 
come  down  to  us ;  but  unfortunately,  instead  of  being  na- 
tional and  original,  it  was  imitative  and  borrowed,  consisting 
chiefly  of  translations  from  the  Greek.  In  the  year  afler  the 
end  of  the  first  Punic  war,  (512,)  L.  Livius  Andronicus,  an 
Italian  Greek  by  birth,  represented  his  first  play  at  Rome. 
His  pieces  were  taken  from  the  Greek ;  and  he  also  trans- 
lated the  Odyssey  out  of  that  language  into  Latin.  Cn. 
Naevius,  a  native  of  Campania,  also  made  plays  from  the 
Greek,*  and  he  wrote  an  original  poem  on  the  first  Punic 
war,  in  which  he  had  himself  borne  arms.  These  poets  used 
the  Latin  measures  in  their  verse;  but  Q,.  Ennius,  from 
Rudiae  in  Calabria,  who  is  usually  called  the  Father  of  Ro- 
man poetry,  was  the  first  who  introduced  the  Greek  metres 
into  the  Latin  language.  His  works  were  numerous  trage- 
dies and  comedies,  (from  the  Greek,)  satires,  and  his  cele- 
brated Annals,  or  poetic  history  of  Rome,  in  hexameters,  the 
loss  of  which,  (at  least  of  the  early  books)  is  to  be  lamented. 
M.  Accius  Plautus,  an  Umbrian,  and  Csecilius  Statins,  an 

*  A  translation  of  the  Greek  poem,  the  Cypria,  is  also  ascribed  to 
him ;  but  it  would  seem  without  reason,  as  the  fragments  of  it  are 
hexameters.    The  name  of  the  real  author  is  said  to  have  been  Lsevius. 


ROMAN    LITERATURE. 


289 


Insubrian  Gaul,  composed  numerous  comedies,  freely  imi- 
tated from  the  Greek.  M.  Pacuvius  of  Brundisium,  the 
nephew  of  Ennius,  made  tragedies  from  the  Greek ;  L. 
Afranius  was  regarded  as  the  Menander  of  Rome ;  and 
P.  Terentius,  (Terence,)  a  Carthaginian  by  birth,  gave  some 
beautiful  translations  of  the  comedies  of  Menander  and 
Apollodorus.  None  of  these  poets  but  Plautus  and  Terence 
have  reached  us,  except  in  fragments  ;  the  former  amuses  us 
with  his  humor,  and  gives  us  occasional  views  of  Roman 
manners,  while  we  are  charmed  with  the  graceful  elegance 
of  the  latter.  It  is  remarkable  that  not  one  of  these  poets 
was  a  Roman.     In  fact  Rome  has  nevfer  produced  a  poet. 

d.  Fabius  Pictor,  L.  Cincius  Alimentus,  A.  Postumius 
Albinus,  M.  Porcius  Cato,  and  Cassius  Hemina  wrote  his- 
tories (the  first  three  in  Greek)  in  a  brief,  dry,  unattractive 
style.  Cincius  also  wrote  on  constitutional  antiquities,  and 
seems  to  have  been  a  man  of  research  ;  and  a  work  of  Cato's 
on  husbandry  has  come  down  to  us,  which  we  could  well 
spare  for  his  Origines,  or  early  history  of  Italy. 

25  KK 


\ 


THE 


HISTORY   OF  ROME 


PART   IV.* 


THE  REPUBLIC. 

CONQUEST  OF  THE  EAST,  AND  DOWNFALL 

OF  THE  CONSTITUTION. 


CHAPTER  I.f 

STATE    OF    THINGS  AT    ROME. TIBERIUS    GRACCHUS  t HIS 

TRIBUNATE  AND  LAWS  : HIS    DEATH. DEATH  OF  SCIPIO 

AFRICANUS. CAIUS    GRACCHUS  : HIS    TRIBUNATES    AND 

LAWS  : HIS    DEATH. —  THE  GRACCHI,  AND   THEIR   MEAS- 
URES.  INSOLENCE    AND  CRUELTY    OF   THE    OLIGARCHS. 

CONQUESTS  IN  ASIA  AND  GAUL. 

Hitherto  we  have  seen  the  Romans,  in  consequence  of 
their  admirable  civil  and  military  institutions,  advancing 
from  conquest  to  conquest,  till  no  power  remained  able  to 
contend  with  them  for  the  mastery ;  and,  though  their  con- 
duct was  far  from  according  with  justice  and  the  rigid  rule 
of  right,  the  wisdom  and  energy  of  their  measures  must 

*  There  is  no  consecutive  history  of  this  period  hut  the  epitome  of 
Livy  and  those  of  Eutropius  and  others,  and  the  agreeable  sketch  of 
the  ingenious  but  prejudiced  Velleius.  Appian's  Civil  Wars  gives 
the  internal  history ;  and  from  the  year  683  we  have  the  continuous 
narrative  of  Dion  Cassius.  The  works  of  Cicero  also  furnish  many 
particulars,  and  there  are  Lives  of  all  the  great  men  of  this  period  by 
Plutarch. 

t  Appian,  B.  C.  i.  1—27.  Velleius,  u.  1—7.  Plut.,  Tib.  and  C. 
Gracchus. 


STATE    OF    THINGS    AT   ROME.  291 

command  our  applause.  Internal  tranquillity  had  also  pre- 
vailed during  this  period  of  glory,  and  all  orders  in  the  state 
had  acted  together  in  harmony.  The  scene  now  changes. 
Henceforth  the  foreign  wars  become  of  comparatively  little 
account,  while  internal  commotions  succeed  one  another 
almost  without  intermission;  liberty  is  lost  in  the  unhal- 
lowed contests,  and  anarchy  brings  forth  its  legitimate  oflP- 
spring,  despotism.  The  progress  to  this  consummation  we 
will  now  endeavor  to  trace. 

The  political  state  of  Rome  at  this  time  was  such  as  is 
most  unfavorable  to  the  maintenance  of  liberty.  The 
people,  who  had  the  power  of  bestowing  all  the  great  and 
lucrative  offices  in  the  state  were  poor,  while  a  portion  of 
the  nobility  were  immensely  rich.  There  were  thus  an  oli- 
garchy and  a  democracy  together  in  the  state,  and  unless 
this  condition  of  things  could  be  changed  there  must  be  an 
end  of  the  constitution. 

We  have  above  shown  one  of  the  modes  in  which  the 
Roman  nobles  acquired  wealth,  namely,  by  the  oppression 
of  the  provinces.  They  had  also  been  large  purchasers  of 
land  in  the  sales  of  its  domain  made  by  the  state ;  and  as, 
on  account  of  the  constant  wars  in  which  Rome  had  been 
engaged  since  she  had  made  the  conquest  of  Italy,  the  vast 
tracks  of  public  land  which  had  been  acquired  remained 
mostly  unassigned,  they  were  occupied  by  the  men  of  wealth. 
Had  they,  in  conformity  with  the  Licinian  law,  employed 
free  laborers  on  these  lands  the  evil  had  been  less  ;  but 
the  victories  of  the  Roman  people  had  filled  the  market 
with  slaves,  and  the  great  landholders,  finding  that  the 
work  of  slaves  would  come  cheaper  than  that  of  freemen, 
who  were  moreover  always  liable  to  be  draughted  for  the 
army,  purchased  large  numbers  of  them,  whom  they  kept  in 
workhouses  [ergastula)  badly  fed  and  hardly  treated,  and 
forced  to  labor  in  fetters  on  their  lands.  These  men  were 
not,  like  the  negroes,  an  inferior  race;  they  were  Gauls, 
Spaniards,  Ligurians,  Asiatics,  and  other  intelligent  or 
energetic  portions  of  the  human  family.  They  had  known 
the  blessings  of  freedom,  and,  as  the  late  events  in  Sicily 
had  shown,  they  might  endanger  the  state  by  a  revolt. 

On  the  other  hand,  the  frugal  independent  yeomanry, 
which  in  the  good  times  had  formed  the  pride  and  the 
strength  of  Rome,  was  greatly  diminished,  and  at  the  same 
time  was  debased  and  corrupted.  Engaged  in  distant  ser- 
vice they  were  kept  foir  years  away  from  their  farms,  and 


^92  HISTORY  <>F   ROME. 

frequently  on  his  return  the  soldier  found  that  his  family 
had  been  driven  from  their  cottage  by  some  wealthy  neigh- 
bor who  coveted  their  spot  of  land,  and  justice  could  not 
always  be  obtained  against  him.  Or,  having  lost  all  relish 
for  a  life  of  frugal  and  laborious  industry,  they  were  easily 
induced  to  sell  their  little  patrimony  for  what  they  could 
get,  and  then  settled  at  Rome,  living  as  they  could,  and 
selling  their  votes,  or  else  they  adopted  a  military  life  alto- 
gether. 

This  state  of  things  caused  great  apprehension  to  the 
prudent  and  patriotic,  who  could  discern  no  remedy  but  a 
return  to  the  provisions  of  the  Licinian  law ;  and  Laelius, 
the  friend  of  the  conqueror  of  Carthage,  had  in  his  tribu- 
nate contemplated  some  measure  of  this  kind,  but  he  de- 
sisted when  he  saw  the  opposition  which  the  nobility  were 
prepared  to  give,  and  hence  it  is  said  he  acquired  his  title 
of  Sapiens,  i.  e.  wise  or  prudent.  Some  time  after,  (619,) 
Tib.  Sempronius  Gracchus,  who  had  been  quaestor  to  Man- 
cinus  at  Numantia,  being  made  tribune  of  the  people,  re- 
solved to  attempt  to  remedy  the  evils  of  his  country  by 
enforcing  the  agrarian  law  of  Licinius  Stolo. 

Tib.  Gracchus  was  the  son  of  that  Tib.  Gracchus  of 
whom  we  have  already  spoken;  his  mother  Cornelia  was 
the  daughter  of  the  great  Africanus.  This  admirable  woman 
had  devoted  herself  to  the  education  of  Tiberius  and  his 
younger  brother  Caius,  anxiously  desiring  that  they  should 
be  the  first  men  of  their  time  in  virtue  and  in  ability.  Nor 
were  her  labors  fruitless;  of  Tiberius  it  is  said,  by  one 
who  condemned  his  measures,  that  "  he  was  (*  the  present 
enterprise  set  off  his  head')  most  pure  in  life,  most  abun- 
dant in  genius,  most  uprignt  in  purpose ;  in  fine,  adorned 
with  as  many  virtues  as  human  nature,  perfected  by  careful 
culture,  is  capable  of"*  He  was  married  to  the  daughter 
of  App.  Claudius,  and  his  sister  was  the  wife  of  Scipio 
Africanus. 

As  is  usual,  various  causes  were  assigned  for  the  conduct 
of  Tib.  Gracchus.  Some  said  that  he  was  excited  by  two 
Greek  philosophers ;  f  others,  by  Cornelia,  who  reproached 
him  that  people  called  her  the  mother-in-law  of  Scipio  in- 
stead of  the  mother  of  the  Gracchi ;  others,  by  jealousy  of  a 

*  Veil.  Pat.  ii.  2.  Cicero  also,  though  he  always  condemns  the 
conduct  of  Tiberius  in  the  strongest  terms,  calls  his  "  revolt  from  the 
senate''  his  only  fault.     (De  Harusp.  Resp.  19.) 

t  Diophanes  of  Mytil^ne,  and  Blosius  of  Cumse  in  Campania. 


TIBERIUS    GRACCHUS.  293 

young  man  of  his  own  age,  his  rival  in  eloquence ;  others, 
by  anger  and  fear  at  the  conduct  of  the  senate  on  the  oc- 
casion of  the  Numahtine  treaty.*  But  by  far  the  most 
probable  cause  is  that  given  by  his  brother  Caius,  who  said 
that  as  he  passed  through  Etruria,  on  his  way  to  Numantia, 
he  was  struck  with  the  deserted  look  of  the  country  in 
consequence  of  the  large  estates,  and  observing  that  all 
those  who  were  cultivating  them  were  slaves,  he  began  to 
reflect  on  a  remedy.  After  his  return  to  Rome  he  com- 
municated his  views  to  his  father-in-law  App.  Claudius,  to 
P.  Mucins  Scaevola^  the  great  jurisconsult,  and  to  P.  Liciri- 
ius  Crassus,  the  chief  pontiff — men  not  to  be  suspected  of 
demagogy —  and  other  eminent  persons,  all  of  whom  agreed 
with  him  in  sentiment.  Encouraged  by  their  opinions,  and 
further  invited  by  anonymous  writings  on  the  walls  and 
public  monuments  calling  on  him  to  resume  the  public  land 
for  the  poor,  he  brought  forward  a  bill  prohibiting  any  one 
from  holding  more  than  five  hundred  jugers  of  public  land 
himself,  and  half  that  quantity  for  each  of  his  sons ;  and 
directing  triumvirs  to  be  appointed  annually  for  dividing 
the  surplus  lands  among  the  poor  citizens,  who  were  more- 
over not  to  be  permitted  to  sell  their  allotments. 

The  wealthy  exclaimed  against  this  law  as  a  crying  in^ 
justice :  they  had,  they  said,  inherited  this  property  from 
their  fathers,  or  fairly  purchased  it :  they  had  received  it 
in  dowry  with  their  wives,  and  given  it  in  dowry  with  their 
daughters ;  they  had  laid  out  their  money  on  it  in  build- 
ings and  plantations ;  they  had  borrowed  or  lent  money 
on  it ;  the  tombs  of  the  fathers  of  many  were  on  these 
estates,  so  long  had  they  been  in  their  families.  On  the 
other  hand,  the  poor  complained  of  the  state  of  misery  to 
which  they  had  been  reduced ;  they  enumerated  the  cam- 
paigns in  which  these  lands  had  been  acquired  by  the 
blood  of  their  fathers ;  they  upbraided  the  rich  with  their 
want  of  feeling  and  patriotism  in  preferring  faithless  barba- 
rian slaves  to  free  citizens  and  brave  soldiers.  The  people 
of  the  colonies,  municipal  towns,t  and  others  who  had 
any  concern  in  this  land,  flocked  to  Rome  as  the  time  for 
putting  the  law  to  the  vote  drew  nigh,  and,  as  they  saw 
reason  to  hope  or  fear  from  it,  sided  with  one  party  or  the 
other. 

.  *  Cicero,  Brut.  27  ;  De  Harusp.  Resp.  20.    Veil.  Pat.  ii.  2. 
t  These  were  the  Latin  and  Italian  towns.    (Niebuhr,  ii.  52,note.) 

25* 


294  HISTORY   OP   ROME. 

Gracchus  himself,  excited  by  the  magnitude  and  anticipa- 
ted good  of  his  object,  and  warmed  by  opposition,  exerted  all 
the  powers  of  his  eloquence  in  his  harangues  from  the  Rostra. 
The  beasts  of  the  field  in  Italy,  he  said,  had  their  holes  and 
dens  to  lie  in,  while  those  who  fought  and  died  for  it  partook 
of  its  light  and  air,  but  of  nought  else,  wandering  about  house- 
less and  homeless  with  their  wives  and  children.  It  was  a 
mockery  of  the  generals  to  call  on  their  men  in  battle  to  fight 
for  their  altars  and  the  tombs  of  their  fathers,  for  of  so  many 
Romans  not  one  had  a  family  altar  or  tomb ;  they  fought  and 
died  for  the  wealth  and  luxury  of  others  :  they  were  called  the 
lords  of  the  world,  while  they  had  not  a  sod  of  their  own.  He 
asked  the  wealthy  if  slaves  were  better,  braver,  or  more 
faithful  than  freemen :  he  showed  them  that,  by  thus  diminish- 
ing the  free  population,  they  were  running  the  risk  not  only 
of  not  making  the  further  conquests  to  which  they  aspired, 
but  of  losing  to  the  public  enemies  the  lands  they  already 
possessed.  He  finally  told  them  that  if  they  cheerfully 
yielded  up  what  they  held  beyond  the  limits  specified  in 
his  law,  they  should  have  the  remainder  in  absolute  prop- 
erty, and  he  gave  an  adequate  remuneration  for  the  money 
they  had  laid  out  on  what  they  surrendered.  He  then  de- 
sired the  clerk  to  read  out  the  bill. 

But  the  rich,  fearing  to  make  any  opposition  in  their 
own  persons,  had  engaged  Octavius,  one  of  the  tribunes, 
on  their  side,  and  he  interposed  his  veto.  The  clerk  there- 
fore stopped  reading.  Gracchus  then  put  the  matter  off 
till  the  next  market-day;  but  with  no  better  success,  for 
Octavius  again  interposed.  Gracchus  appointed  another 
day,  and  judging  that  Octavius'  opposition  proceeded  from 
his  being  a  holder  of  public  land,  he  offered  to  make  good 
out  of  his  own  fortune  any  loss  he  might  sustain.  Finding 
him  obstinate,  he  suspended  by  his  intercession  the  func- 
tions of  all  the  magistrates  till  his  bill  should  have  passed, 
and  he  placed  his  seal  on  the  temple  of  Saturn,  that  the 
quaestors  might  take  nothing  into  or  out  of  it*  The 
wealthy  now  assumed  the  garb  of  mourners;  they  at  the 
same  time  laid  plots  for  the  life  of  Gracchus,  who  aware 
of  them  went  constantly  armed  with  a  dagger,  taking  care 
to  let  it  be  seen. 

Another  assembly-day  came  :  the  people  were  preparing 

*  As  this  was  the  treasury,  this  was  what  we  now  call  stopping  the 
supplies. 


^y 


TRIBUNATE    AND   LAWS    OF    TIBERIUS   GRACCHUS.    295 

to  vote,  when  Octavius  again  interposed ;  they  lost  patience, 
and  were  about  to  have  recourse  to  violence  ;  but  Manlius 
and  Fulvius,  two  consulars,  with  tears  implored  Gracchus 
to  leave  the  matter  to  the  senate.  He  snatched  up  his  bill 
and  ran  with  it  into  the  senate-house ;  but  here  the  party  of 
the  rich  was  too  strong  for  him  :  he  came  out  again,  and  in 
sight  of  the  people  besought  Octavius  to  give  up  his  op- 
position ;  and  when  he  could  not  prevail  he  declared  that 
the  public  weal  must  not  be  endangered  by  their  disputes, 
and  that  one  or  other  of  them  must  be  deprived  of  his 
office.  He  then  desired  Octavius  to  put  the  question  of  his 
deposition  to  the  vote,  and  on  his  refusal  he  said  that  he 
would  propose  that  of  Octavius.  The  assembly  was  then 
dismissed. 

Next  day  he  proposed  the  question ;  the  first  or  praeroga- 
tive  tribe  having  voted  for  it,  he  conjured  Octavius  to  change, 
but  in  vain.  When  seventeen  tribes  had  voted,  he  again 
implored  him ;  Octavius,  who  was  naturally  of  a  mild,  mod- 
erate temper,  hesitated  and  was  silent ;  but  on  looking  at 
the  rich,  false  shame  overcame  him,  and  he  persisted :  the 
eighteenth  tribe  then  voted,  and  he  ceased  to  be  a  tribune. 
Gracchus  ordered  one  of  his  officers,  a  freedman,  to  pull 
him  down:  the  people  rushed  to  seize  him,  the  rich  to 
defend  him,  and  he  escaped  with  some  difficulty,  d.  Mum- 
mius  was  forthwith  chosen  in  his  place. 

Gracchus  now  carried  his  laws  without  opposition  ;  he 
himself,  his  young  brother  Caius,  and  App.  Claudius  his 
father-in-law,  were  appointed  triumvirs  for  dividing  the  lari^r 
The  senate,  at  the  instigation  of  P.  Scipio  Nasica,  an  exten- 
sive holder  of  public  land,  had  the  meanness  and  folly  to 
insult  Gracchus  by  refusing  him  a  tent,  (a  thing  always  given 
to  triumvirs,)  and  by  assigning  him  only  4^  asses  a  day  for 
his  expenses. 

Just  at  this  time  Eudemus,  of  Pergamus,  arrived  with  the 
will  of  king  Attalus.  Gracchus  immediately  proposed  that 
the  royal  treasures  should  be  brought  to  Rome,  and  divided 
among  those  to  whom  land  should  be  assigned,  to  enable 
them  to  purchase  cattle  and  farming  implements.  He  further 
maintained  that  it  was  for  the  people,  ngt  the  senate,  to 
regulate  the  dominions  of  the  deceased  monarch.  This 
galled  the  senate,  and  Pompeius  rose  arid  asserted  that  being 
Gracchus'  neighbor  he  knew  that  Eudemus  had  given  him, 
as  the  future  king  of  Rome,  the  diadem  and  purple  robe  of 
Attalus.     Q.  Metellus  reproached  him  with  letting  the  poorer 


296  HISTORY    OP    ROME. 

citizens  light  him  home  at  night,  whereas,  when  his  father 
was  censor,  people  used  to  put  out  their  lights  as  he  was 
going  home,  lest  he  should  know  that  they  kept  late  hours. 
Others  said  other  things;  but  what  most  injured  Gracchus, 
even  with  his  own  party,  was  the  deposition  of  Octavius. 
Being  aware  of  this,  he  entered  into  a  public  justification  of 
his  conduct  on  that  occasion;  but  his  arguments,  though 
ingenious,  are  not  convincing.* 

The  nobility  made  no  secret  of  their  intention  to  take 
vengeance  on  Gracchus  when  he  became  again  a  private 
man,  and  his  friends  saw  no  safety  for  him  but  in  being  re- 
elected. To  secure  the  people  he  declared  his  intention  of 
shortening  the  period  of  military  service,  and  to  give  an 
appeal,  in  civil  suits,  from  the  judges  to  the  people.  He 
also  (perhaps  to  gain  the  knights)  proposed  to  add  an  equal 
number  from  the  equestrian  order  to  the  panel  of  judges, 
who  had  been  hitherto  exclusively  senators. 

When  the  day  of  election  came,  the  party  of  Gracchus  was 
much  more  feeble  than  usual,  for  his  chief  supporters  being 
countryfolk  were  away  getting  in  the  harvest,  and  they  did 
not  attend  to  his  summons.  He  therefore  threw  himself  on 
the  people  of  the  town,  and  though  the  strength  of  his  ene- 
mies lay  in  that  quarter  the  first  two  tribes  voted  in  his  favor. 
The  rich  then  interrupted  the  proceedings,  exclaiming  that 
the  same  man  could  not  be  twice  tribune ;  a  dispute  arose 
among  the  tribunes,  and  Gracchus  put  off  the  election  till 
the  next  day.t  Though  inviolate  by  his  office  he  put  on 
mourning,  and  during  the  rest  of  the  day  he  went  leading 
his  young  son  about  with  him,  and  commending  him  to  the 
care  of  the  people,  as  he  despaired  of  life  for  himself.  The 
people  attended  him  home,  assuring  him  he  might  rely  on 
them,  and  many  of  them  kept  watch  at  his  house  during  the 
night. 

In  the  morning  the  friends  of  Gracchus,  having  early  occu- 
pied the  Capitol,  where  the  election  was  to  be  held,  sent  to 
summon  him.  Various  unfavorable  omens,  it  is  said,  oc- 
curred as  he  was  leaving  home,  but  his  friend  Blosius,  the 
philosopher,  bade  him  despise  them.  He  went  up :  the  elec- 
tion commenced ;  the  rich  men  and  their  party  began  to 
disturb  it ;  Gracchus  made  the  sign  which  he  had  arranged 

*  Plutarch  gives  the  heads  of  his  speech.  Cicero  (Laws,  iii.  10)  im- 
putes the  ruin  of  Gracchus  to  his  deposition  of  his  colleague. 

t  Appian,  i.  14.  Plutarch  says  that  it  was  the  friends  of  Gracchus 
who  began  to  quarrel  when  they  found  the  election  going  against  him. 


TRIBUNATE   AND   LAWS    OF   TIBERIUS   GRACCHUS.    297 

with  his  friends  during  the  night,  for  recurring  to  force :  his 
party  snatched  the  staves  from  the  officers  and  broke  them 
up,  and  girding  their  gowns  about  them  fell  on  the  rich  men 
and  drove  them  off  the  ground  with  wounds  and  bruises. 
The  tribunes  fled :  the  priests  closed  the  doors  of  the  tem- 
ple ;  some  ran  here,  some  there,  crying  that  Gracchus  was 
deposing  the  other  tribunes ;  others  said  that  he  was  making 
himself  perpetual  tribune  without  any  election  at  all. 

The  senate  meantime  was  sitting  in  the  temple  of  Faith. 
When  Gracchus  moved  his  hand  to  his  head  to  give  the  sig- 
nal, some  ran  down  crying  that  he  was  demanding  a  diadem 
of  the  people.  Scipio  Nasica  called  on  the  consul  Mucins 
ScaBvola  to  do  his  duty  and  save  the  republic ;  but  he  mildly 
replied  that  he  would  not  use  force  or  put  any  one  to  death 
without  a  trial ;  that  if  Gracchus  made  the  people  pass  any 
illegal  ^leasure,  they  were  not  bound  by  it.  Nasica  sprang 
up,  and  cried,  "  Since  the  consul  is  false  to  the  state,  let  all 
who  will  aid  the  laws  follow  me."  Then,  regardless  of  his 
dignity  as  chief  pontiff,  and  setting  the  retention  of  the  pub- 
lic land,  of  which  he  held  so  large  a  portion,  before  all  things, 
he  threw  the  skirt  of  his  gown  over  his  head  as  a  signal  to 
.  his  party,  and  began  to  ascend  the  Capitol.  A  number  of 
senators,  knights,  and  others,  wrapping  their  gowns  round 
their  arms,  followed  him ;  the  crowd  gave  way  through 
respect ;  they  snatched  the  staves  from  the  Gracchians,  broke 
up  the  forms  and  benches,  and  laid  about  with  them  on  all 
sides.  Some  of  the  Gracchians  were  precipitated  down  the 
steep  sides  of  the  hill;  about  three  hundred  were  slain,  and 
among  them  Gracchus  himself,  at  the  door  of  the  temple,  by 
the  statues  of  the  kings  ;  or,  according  to  another  account, 
by  a  blow  of  a  piece  of  a  seat  from  Satureius,  one  of  his 
colleagues,  as  he  was  running  down  the  clivus  of  the  hill. 
In  the  night  the  bodies  of  all  the  slain  were  flung  into  lhe 
Tiber,  that  of  Gracchus  included,  which  his  murderers  re- 
fused to  the  entreaties  of  his  brother.  Some  of  his  friends 
were  driven  into  exile ;  others,  among  whom  was  Diophanes, 
were  put  to  death.  Blosius,  when  taken  before  the  consuls, 
declared  that  he  had  done  every  thing  in  obedience  to  Grac- 
chus. "  What,"  said  Laelius,  "  if  he  had  ordered  you  to 
burn  the  Capitol? "  Blosius  said  that  Gracchus  would  have 
given  no  such  order ;  but  when  pressed  he  answered  that  he 
would  have  obeyed  it,  as  it  must  in  such  case  have  been  for 
the  public  good.     Strange  to  say,  he  was  set  at  liberty! 

Thus,  for  the  first  time  for  centuries,  was  blood  shed  in 

♦  LL 


298  filSTOKT  OP   ROME. 

civil  contest  in  Rome,  —  a  prelude  to  the  atrocities  which 
were  soon  to  be  of  every-day  occurrence.  To  the  eternal 
disgrace  of  the  Roman  aristocracy,  and  to  their  own  ulti- 
mate ruin,  their  avarice  first  caused  civil  discord ;  and  their 
contempt  of  law,  divine  and  human,  sprinkled  the  temple  of 
Jupiter  Optimus  Maximus  with  the  sacred  blood  of  a  tribune, 
and  taught  the  Roman  people  to  despise  the  majesty  of  office 
and  the  sanctity  of  religion. 

The  senate  pronounced  the  death  of  Gracchus  and  his 
friends  to  be  an  act  of  justice ;  *  but  the  people  were  so  im- 
bittered  against  Nasica  that  he  deemed  it  advisable  to  go 
out  of  their  sight ;  and  though  his  office  of  chief  pontiff 
bound  him  not  to  leave  Italy,  he  obtained  from  the  senate  a 
free  legation  to  Asia,  where,  after  wandering  about  for  some 
time,  he  died  at  Pergamus. 

Scipio  Africanus  was  at  Numantia  at  this  time,  and  it  is 
said  that  when  he  heard  of  the  death  of  Tib.  Gracchus,  he 
cried  out  in  the  words  of  Homer, 

Thus  perish  all  who  venture  on  such  deeds  !  t 

And  when,  after  his  return,  (621,)  the  tribune  Carbo  demand- 
ed of  him  before  the  people  what  bethought  of  the  death  of 
Tib.  Gracchus,  he  replied  that  he  was  justly  slain  if  he  had 
a  design  of  seizing  on  the  government.  At  this  the  assembly 
groaned  and  hooted  at  him,  but  he  said,  "  How  should  I,  who 
so  oft  have  heard  undismayed  the  shouts  of  armed  enemies, 
be  moved  by  those  of  you  to  whom  Italy  is  but  a  stepdame  ?  "  | 
The  agrarian  law  also  caused  Scipio  to  sink  in  the  popular 
favor ;  for  M.  Fulvius  Flaccus  and  C.  Papirius  Carbo,  who 
were  made  triumvirs  in  the  place  of  Tib.  Gracchus  and  of 
App.  Claudius,  (who  was  dead,)  finding  that  those  who  held 
the  public  land  did  not  give  in  an  account  of  it,  invited  inform- 
ers to  come  forward.  Immediately  there  sprang  up  a  rank 
crop  of  legal  suits ;  for  those  Italians  to  whom  the  senate  had 
re-granted  their  lands,  and  those  who  had  purchased,  were 
required  to  produce  their  title  deeds ;  but  some  had  been  lost, 
others  were  ambiguous,  and  time  and  one  cause  or  another  had 

*  Cicero  (Plane.  36.  Pro  Domo,  54)  says  that  Mucins  applauded  and 
defended  the  deed  of  Nasica.  This  hardly  accords  with  his  approval 
of  Gracchus'  project. 

t  '  Slq  unolono  xal  aXXog,  orig  ToiavTu  ye  ^itot.     Od.  1.  47. 

t  Meaning  that  they  were  inostly  freedmen,  not  genuine  Roman  cit- 


DEATH    OF    SCIPIO    AFRICANUS.  299 

produced  such  confusion  and  uncertainty  in  the  various  pos- 
sessions, that  the  encroachments  of  the  rich  could  not  be 
ascertained  with  any  exactness,  so  that  no  man  was  sure  of 
his  property.*     . 

In  this  state  of  things  the  Italians  applied  to  Scipio  Africa- 
nus,  under  whoni  so  many  of  them  had  served,  to  advocate 
their  cause.  Not  venturing  openly,  on  account  of  the  people, 
to  impugn  the  agrarian  law,  he  contented  himself  with  repre- 
senting that  it  was  not  right  that  those  who  were  to  divide  the 
lands  should  be  the  judges  of  what  was  public  or  not.  As 
this  seemed  reasonable,  the  consul  C.  Sempronius  Tudita- 
nus  (623)  was  appointed  to  act  as  judge ;  but  not  liking  the 
office  he  marched  with  an  army  into  Illyria,  under  the  pretext 
of  some  disturbance  there.  The  whole  matter  came  to  a 
stop:  the  people  were  enraged  with  Scipio,  and  his  ene- 
mies gave  out  that  it  was  his  design  to  abrogate  the  law  by 
force.  One  evening  Scipio  went  home  from  the  senate  in  per- 
fect health,  attended  by  the  senators  and  a  large  concourse  of 
the  Latins  and  the  allies.  He  got  ready  a  table  in  order  to 
write  in  the  night  what  he  intended  to  say  to  the  people  next 
day.  In  the  morning  he  was  found  dead  in  his  bed,  but  with- 
out any  wound.  Of  the  nature  and  cause  of  his  death  there 
were  various  opinions,  some  said  it  was  natural,t  others  that  he 
put  an  end  to  himself;  others,  that  his  wife  Sempronia,  the  sis- 
ter of  the  Gracchi,  (for  whom  he  had  little  affection  on  account 
of  her  ugliness  and  her  sterility,)  and  it  was  even  added  with 
the  aid  of  her  mother  Cornelia,  strangled  him,  that  he  might 
not  abrogate  the  law  of  Gracchus.|  His  slaves,  it  is  also  said, 
declared  that  some  strangers  who  were  introduced  at  the  rear 
of  the  house  had  strangled  him  :  the  triumvirs  Carbo  and 
Fulvius  are  expressly  named  as  the  assassins.^  Those  who 
know  how  virulent  and  how  little  scrupulous  of  means  par- 
ties were  in  ancient  times,  will  probably  feel  disposed  to  sus- 
pect that  he  was  murdered,  and  it  is  needless  to  say  by  what 
party.  At  all  events  no  judicial  inquiry  was  made,  and  the 
conqueror  of  Carthage  had  only  a  private  funeral.  1| 

*  The  effect  of  the  writ  qtio  warranto  in  the  reign  of  Edward  I.  was 
similar. 

t  Which  Velleius  says  was  the  more  general  account. 

t  Appian,  i.  20.  Cicero,  Somn.  Scip.  2.  Liv.  Epit.  59.  Cicero's  al- 
lusion may  be  to  C.  Gracchus,  who  was  suspected.    Plut.  C.  Grac.  10. 

§  Cicero,  ad  fivers,  ix.  21  j  Ad  Quint,  ii.  3.  j  De  Nat.  Deor.  ii.  ^.  iii. 
32.    Plut.  as  above. 

II  Pliny,  H.  N.  x.  43,  60. 


300  HisTORt^ityp  iRdliEf "' ' 

Scipio  Africdnus  is  one  of  the  most  accomplished  charac 
ters  in  Roman  story.  As  a  general  he  was  brave  and  skilful ; 
and  though  he  had  not  the  opportunities  of  displaying  milita- 
ry talents  of  the  highest  order,  success  attended  all  his  opera- 
tions, and  he  cannot  be  charged  with  any  errors.  He  was  of 
a  noble,  generous  spirit  in  all  his  dealings,  and  in  money  mat- 
ters he  acted  with  a  liberality  that  was  thought  surprising  in  a 
Roman.  Scipio  was  moreover  an  accomplished  scholar ;  he 
was  the  pupil  of  Polybius  and  PanaBtius,  and  the  patron  of  the 
elegant  poet  Terence,  who  is  said  to  have  been  indebted  to  him 
and  his  friend  Laelius  for  many  of  the  graces  of  his  dramas. 

For  seven  years  (619-626)  after  the  death  of  Tib.  Grac- 
chus, his  brother  Caius  seems  to  have  abstained  from  public 
aiSairs.  In  626  he  was  appointed  quaestor  to  the  cbnsul  L. 
Aurelius  Orestes,  who  was  going  out  to  take  the  command  in 
Sardini^.  This  appointment  gave  much  joy  to  the  nobility, 
who  had  been  greatly  troubled  by  the  eloquence  which  he  had 
lately  displayed  in  the  defence  of  one  of  his  friends,  and  at 
the  favor  shown  him  by  the  people.  Cicero  *  assures  us  that 
on  this  occasion  Gracchus  had  a  dream,  in  which  his  brother 
appeared  to  him  and  said,  that,  linger  as  he  might,  he  must  die 
the  same  death  that  he  had  died.  The  conduct  of  Gracchus 
during  his  quaestorship  was  deserving  of  every  praise. 

The  next  year,  to  the  mortification  of  the  senate,  M.  Ful- 
vius  Flaccus  was  phosen  one  of  the  consuls.  Aware  of  the 
impolicy  of  alienating  the  Italians  by  putting  them  in  appre- 
hension for  their  lands,  Fulvius  proposed  to  conciliate  and 
compensate  them  by  granting  them  the  Roman  civic  franchise, 
and  he  prepared  a  l^w  to  that  effect.  The  senators  admon- 
ished and  entreated  him  to  no  purpose;  he  persisted  in  his 
measure :  but  just  then  the  Massilians  having  sent  to  implore 
aid  against  the  Salluvian  Gauls,  Fulvius  was  induced  to  take 
the  command  of  the  army  sent  to  their  relief;  and  his  victo- 
ries in  this  and  the  following  year  gained  him  the  honor  of  a 
triumph,  (629.) 

The  Latins  and  the  Italians,  who  had  gladly  consented  to 
accept  the  boon  of  citizenship  in  lieu  of  the  disputed  lands, 
were  highly  provoked  at  their  disappointment,  and  many  of^ 
their  states  began  to  think  of  appealing  to  arms.  The  peo- 
ple of  Fregellae  did  actually  revolt,  but  they  were  betrayed 
by  Numitorius  Pullus,  one  Of  their  chiefs,  to  the  praetor  L. 
Opimius,  who  was  sent  with  an  army  against  them.     Opimius 

•  De  Div.  i.  36. 


CAIUS    GRACCHUS.  301 

razed  the  town,  and  this  severity  deterred  the  people  of  the 
other  towns  from  rebellion. 

Aurelius  had  now  been  two  years  in  Sardinia,  and  the  sen- 
ate, though  they  changed  the  troops,  continued  him  in  his  com- 
mand, thinking  that  Gracchus  would  not  quit  his  general,  but 
Gracchus,  seeing  their  object,  became  indignant,  and  sailed 
at  once  for  Rome,  (628.)  His  enemies  exclaimed,  that  his 
friends  were  offended  at  such  unusual  conduct ;  but  he  defend- 
ed himself  before  the  censors,  and  proved  that  he  was  justi- 
fied in  acting  as  he  had  done.  The  nobles  then  charged 
him  with  having  excited  the  Fregellians  to  their  revolt,  but  he 
easily  cleared  himself  He  then  offered  himself  as  a  candi- 
date for  the  office  of  tribune,  and  on  the  day  of  election  such 
multitudes  of  citizens  flocked  to  Rome,  from  all  parts  of 
Italy  that  the  Forum  could  not  contain  them,  and  numbers 
gave  their  votes  from  the  house-tops. 

Soon  after  he  had  entered  on  his  office,  (629,)  he 'brought 
forward  two  laws,  one  declaring  any  person  who  had  been  de- 
prived of  one  office  by  the  people  incapable  of  holding  any 
other ;  a  second  making  it  penal  for  a  magistrate  to  try  any 
person  capitally  without  the  consent  of  the  people.*  The 
first  was  directed  against  the  deposed  tribune  Octavius  ;  but 
he  gave  up  this  bill  on  the  entreaty  of  Cornelia,  to  whom  Oc- 
tavius was  related  :  the  other  was  levelled  at  P.  Popillius  Lsb- 
nas,  who  was  praetor  when  Tib.  Gracchus  was  murdered; 
Popillius,  fearing  to  stand  a  trial,  left  Italy.  Gracchus  then 
had  the  following  laws  passed.  1.  A  renewal  of  his  broth- 
er's agrarian  law.  2.  One  forbidding  the  enlistnjent  of  any 
one  under  seventeen  years  of  age.  3.  One  for  clothing  the 
soldiers  without  making  any  deduction  from  their  pay  on  that 
account.  4.  One  for  making  roads  through  Italy.  5.  One 
for  selling  corn  to  the  citizens  every  month  out  of  the  public 
granaries  at  ^  As  {semisse  et  triente)  the  modius,  or  peck,t 
for  which  purpose  he  directed  the  revenues  of  Attains'  king- 
dom to  be  let  by  the  censors.^ 

Such  were  the  measures  of  Gracchus  in  his  first  tribunate. 
The  law  for  making  roads  was  eminently  useful,  and  he  de- 
voted much  of  his  attention  to  them.  They  were  straight 
and  level,  with  bridges  where  requisite,  and  milestones  placed 
all  along  them.  His  frumentary  law  was  a  poor-law  of  the 
worst  kind ;  it  drained  the  treasury,  and  drew  to  Rome  an 
idle,  turbulent  population.     It  is  very  diflicult  to  believe  that 

*  Cicero,  Rabirius,  4.        t  Liv.  Epit.  60.         %  Cic.  Verres,  iii.  6. 
26 


I 


302  HISTORY   OF   ROME. 

his  motives  in  passing  it  could  have  been  pure ;  it  was  after- 
wards repealed  with  the  full  consent  of  the  people.*  Grac- 
chus also  gained  favor  with  the  provincials  this  year  by  the 
following  act.  The  proconsul  Q,.  Fabius  having  sent  from 
Spain  a  large  quantity  of  corn  extorted  from  the  provincials, 
a  senatus-consult  was  made  on  the  motion  of  Gracchus, 
ordering  the  corn  to  be  sold  and  the  price  returned  to  the 
Spaniards,  and  reprimanding  Fabius  for  his  conduct. 

By  a  law  lately  passed  the  people  had  been  empowered  to 
reelect  any  tribune  who  had  not  had  time  to  complete  a 
measure  which  he  had  brought  forward ;  accordingly  Grac- 
chus was  chosen  one  of  the  tribunes  for  the  next  year  also, 
(630.)  On  this  occasion  he  gave  a  strong  proof  of  his 
influence  over  the  people.  He  said  to  them  one  day  that 
he  had  a  favor  to  ask,  but  he  would  not  complain  if  they 
refused  him ;  and  while  all  were  wondering  what  it  might 
be,  and  if  he  wanted  them  to  make  him  consul  as  well  as 
tribune,  he  brought  forward  C.  Fannius  Strabo,  and  recom- 
mended him  for  the  consulate.  His  object  was  to  keep  out 
L.  Opimius,  a  determined  oligarch ;  and  he  succeeded,  for 
Fannius  was  chosen  with  Cn.  Domitius. 

Gracchus'  first  law  was  one  taking  the  judicial  power  from 
the  senate,  who  had  enjoyed  it  from  the  time  of  the  kings, 
and  giving  it  to  the  knights.  As  the  senatorial  judges  had 
of  late  shown  scandalous  partiality  in  the  cases  of  some 
governors  of  provinces,  the  senate  was  ashamed  to  make  any 
opposition,  and  the  law  passed.  It  is  said  that  when  pro- 
posing this  law  from  the  Rostra,  instead  of  facing  the  Co- 
mitium  as  had  hitherto  been  the  custom,  he  turned  to  the 
Forum ,f  thereby  intimating  that  the  power  of  the  state  was 
in  the  people;  and  he  continued  this  practice.  It  is  also 
said  that  when  the  law  had  passed,  he  cried  out  that  he  had 
destroyed  the  senate.  Yet  he  at  the  same  time  proposed 
and  carried  a  law  directing  that  the  senate  should  every  year 
before  the  elections  decide  what  provinces  should  be  consu- 
lar and  what  praetorian,  and  that  with  respect  to  the  former 
no  tribune  should  have  the  power  of  interceding.  Gracchus 
next  proposed  a  law  for  communicating  the  civic  franchise 
to  the  Latins  and  the  Italians,  and  extending  Italy  to  the 

*  Cic.  Brut.  62. 

t  He  was  not  the  first  to  do  go;  in  607  C  Liciniiis  Crassus,  when 
proposing  a  law  for  giving  the  choice  of  members  of  the  sacred  colleges 
to  the  people,  had  faced  the  Forum.     (Cicero,  Leelius,  25.) 


TRIBUNATES    AND   LAWS    OF    CAIUS    GRACCHUS.       303 

Alps.  It  does  not  appear  that  this  law  passed,  and  it  is 
likely  that  it  injured  him  with  the  people,  to  gratify  whom 
he  proposed  sending  colonists  to  Capua  and  Tarentura. 

The  senate  had  gained  the  consul  Fannius  to  their  side  ; 
but  not  deeming  this  enough,  they  adopted  a  new  system  of 
tactics ;  they  directed  M.  Livius  Drusus,  one  of  the  tribunes, 
a  man  of  birth,  wealth,  and  eloquence,  and  entirely  devoted 
to  them,  to  endeavor  to  outbid  Gracchus  for  popularity. 
Drusus  therefore  proposed  that  twelve  colonies  of  three 
thousand  persons  each  should  be  founded,  that  the  rent  im- 
posed by  the  Sempronian  law*  on  the  lands  which  were,  or 
were  to  be,  divided  should  be  remitted,  and  decemvirs  be 
appointed  for  dividing  them.  He  also  brought  in  a  bill  ex- 
tending immunity  from  flogging  in  the  army  to  the  Latins. 
These  bills  were  readily  passed  by  the  people,  and  Drusus 
now  rivalled  Gracchus  in  popularity;  and  as  he  declared 
that  he  was  acting  entirely  with  the  approbation  of  the 
senate,  who  gave  a  cheerful  assent  to  all  his  measures,  that 
body  also  rose  in  the  popular  favor.  Drusus  had  a  further 
advantage  over  Gracchus  in  that  he  abstained  from  handling 
the  public  money,  and  he  appointed  others,  not  himself,  to 
lead  his  colonies. 

Gracchus  was  absent  at  this  time.  The  tribune  Rubrius 
had  selected  as  the  site  of  a  colony  the  spot  where  Carthage 
had  stood,  and  which  Scipio  had  devoted  to  be  a  v^aste  for- 
ever, and  Gracchus  and  his  friend  Fulvius  Flaccus  had  been 
sent  to  lay  out  the  colony,  which  was  to  be  named  Junonia.t 
Various  unpropitious  signs,  we  are  told,  appeared  ;  a  violent 
wind  shook  and  broke  the  first  standard,  swept  the  sacrifices 
off  the  altar  and  carried  them  beyond  the  bounds,  and  wolves 
(the  sacred  animals  of  the  sire  of  the  founder  of  Rome) 
plucked  up  the  boundary-marks  and  bore  them  away.l 
Gracchus  however  persisted,  and  after  remaining  there 
seventy  days  he  returned  to  Italy  to  collect  his  colonists. 
Finding  his  influence  on  the  wane,  he  moved  down  from  the 
Palatine,  on  which  he  resided,  to  the  neighborhood  of  the 
Forum,  where  the  lower  sort  of  people  mostly  dwelt,  to  prove 

*  That  is,  of  Tib.  Gracchus.  Laws  were  always  called  after  the 
arentile  name  of  their  proposer;  thus  Sulla's  were  the  Cornelian, 
CiEsar's,  the  Julian  laws. 

t  After  Juno,  or  Astarte,  the  patron-deity  of  Carthage.  (Virg.  ^n.  i.) 

t  Appian  says  it  was  after  the  return  of  Gracchus  that  the  prodigy 

of  the  wolves  (the  only  one  he  mentions)  occurred,  and  that  he  and 

Fulvius  said  it  was  an  invention  of  the  senate,  who  wanted  a  pretext 

for  doing  away  with  the  colony. 


304  HISTORY    OF    ROME. 

his  devotion  to  them.  But  his  measure  of  setting  the  Italians 
on  a  level  with  them  was  too  unpalatable  to  be  digested  by 
the  populace  of  Rome,  who,  as  is  always  the  case,  were  as 
fond  of  monopoly,  as  jealous  of  their  privileges,  and  as  heed- 
less of  justice  in  maintaining  them,  as  any  oligarchs  whatever. 
When  he  proposed  anew  the  granting  the  franchise  to  the 
allies,  the  consul  Fannius,  at  the  desire  of  the  senate,  issued 
an  order  forbidding  any  who  were  not  qualified  to  vote  to  be 
in  the  city,  or  within  five  miles  of  it,  on  the  day  of  voting. 
Gracchus,  on  the  other  hand,  gave  public  notice  to  the 
Italians  that  he  would  protect  them  if  they  staid.  He 
however  did  not,  for  he  looked  calmly  on  while  one  of  his 
own  Italian  friends  was  seized  and  dragged  away  by  the 
lictors,  probably  feeling  that  he  could  not  now  rely  on  the 
people,  in  his  anxiety  to  gain  whom  he  had  also  offended  his 
own  colleagues.  For  on  the  occasion  of  a  combat  of  gladi- 
ators to  be  given  in  the  Forum,  they  had  erected  scaffolds 
around  it  in  order  to  let  the  seats  ;  Gracchus  desired  them 
to  pull  them  down,  that  the  poor  might  see  the  sport  without 
payment.  As  they  took  no  heed  of  him,  he  waited  till  the 
night  before  the  show,  when  collecting  a  body  of  workmen 
he  demolished  the  scaffolds  and  left  the  place  clear  for  the 
populace,  by  whom  this  paltry  piece  of  demagogy  was  of 
course  highly  applauded. 

The  time  of  elections  now  came  on,  and  Gracchus  stood 
a  third  time  for  the  tribunate;  but  he  failed,  some  said 
through  the  injustice  of  his  colleagues,  who  made  a  false 
return  of  the  votes,  but  more  probably  through  the  ill-will 
of  the  people  at  his  wanting  to  extend  the  franchise ;  and 
moreover  the  senate  succeeded  in  having  L.  Opimius,  a  man 
on  whom  they  could  rely,  raised  to  the  consulate.  They 
deemed  that  they  might  now  endeavor  to  abrogate  the  laws 
of  Gracchus,  and  the  first  attempt  was  to  be  made  on  that  of 
the  African  colony.  Gracchus  at  first  bore  their  proceedings 
patiently ;  at  length,  urged  by  Fulvius  and  his  other  friends, 
he  resolved  to  collect  his  adherents  and  oppose  force  to  force. 
On  the  day  of  voting  on  the  law,  both  parties  early  occupied 
the  Capitol:  the  consul,  as  usual,  offered  sacrifice;  and  as 
one  of  his  lictors,  named  Antillius,  was  carrying  away  the 
entrails,  he  cried  to  those  about  Fulvius,  *'  Make  way,  ye 
bad  citizens,  for  the  good!"  they' instantly  fell  on  him  and 
despatched  him  with  their  writing-styles.*     Gracchus  was 

*  Plutarch.    Appian  relates  this  event  somewhat  diiFerently. 


DEATH    OF    CAIUS    GRACCHUS.  305 

sorely  grieved  at  this  violent  deed ;  but  to  Opimius  it  was  a 
matter  of  exultation,  and  he  called  on  the  people  to  avenge 
it.  A  shower  of  rain,  however,  came  on  and  dispersed  the 
assembly.  Opimius  then*  called  the  senate  together,  and, 
while  they  were  deliberating,  the  body  of  Antillius  was 
brought,  with  loud  lamentations,  through  the  Forum  to  the 
senate-house  by  those  to  whom  Opimius  had  given  it  in 
charge :  he,  however,  pretended  ignorance.  The  senators 
went  out  to  look  at  it;  some  exclaimed  at  the  heinousness 
of  the  deed,  others  could  not  help  reflecting  how  different 
had  been  the  treatment  of  the  body  of  Tib.  Gracchus  and  of 
this  common  lictor  by  the  oligarchs.  A  decree  however  was 
passed  that  the  consuls  should  see  that  the  state  suffered  no 
injury.t  Opimius  then  directed  the  senators  to  arm  them- 
selves, and  ordered  the  knights  to  appear  next  morning  early, 
each  with  two  armed  slaves.  Fulvius  on  his  side  also  pre- 
pared for  battle.  It  is  said  that  Gracchus,  as  he  was  leaving 
the  Forum,  stopped  before  his  father's  statue,  and  having 
gazed  on  it  a  long  time  in  silence,  groaned  and  shed  tears. 
The  people  kept  watch  during  the  night  at  his  house  and  at 
that  of  Fulvius ;  at  the  former  in  silence  and  anxiety,  at  the 
latter  with  drinking  and  revelr^,  Fulvius  himself  setting  the 
example. 

In  the  morning  Opimius,  having  occupied  the  Capitol  with 
armed  men,  assembled  the  senate  in  the  temple  of  Castor. 
Summonses  to  appear  before  the  senate  and  defend  themselves 
were  sent  to  Gracchus  and  Fulvius  ;  but,  instead  of  obeying, 
they  resolved  to  occupy  the  Aventine.  Fulvius  having  armed 
his  adherents  with  the  Gallic  spoils  with  which  he  had  adorn- 
ed his  house  after  his  triumph,  moved  toward  the  Aventine, 
calling  the  slaves  in  vain  to  liberty.  Gracchus  went  in 
his  toga,  with  no  weapon  but  a  small  dagger.  They  posted 
themselves  at  the  temple  of  Diana ;  and,  at  the  desire  of  Grac- 
chus, Fulvius  sent  his  younger  son  to  the  senate  to  propose  an 
accommodation.  They  were  desired  to  lay  down  their  arms 
and  to  come  and  say  what  they  would,  or  to  send  no  more 
proposals.  Gracchus,  it  is  said,  was  for  compliance,  but  Ful- 
vius and  the  others  would  not  yield.  The  youth,  however, 
was  sent  down  again  ;  and  then  Opimius,  who  thirsted  for  civil 

*  Plutarch  says,  next  morning ;  but  it  is  not  likely  that  there  could 
have  been  such  delay.  Appian  makes  the  death  of  Gracchus  take 
place  the  following  day. 

t  "  Dent  operani  consules  ne  quid  respublica  detriment!  capiat,'^  was 
the  form  of  the  decree.     It  invested  them  with  dictatorial  power. 
26*  MM 


306  HISTORY    OF    ROME. 

blood,  seized  him  as  being  no  longer  protected  by  his  office, 
and  putting  himself  at  the  head  of  his  armed  men  advanced 
to  the  attack.  The  Gracchians  fled  without  making  any  re- 
sistance. Fulvias  took  refuge  in  a  deserted  bath,  whence  he 
was  dragged  out  and  put  to  death  with  his  eldest  son.  Grac- 
chus, retiring  into  the  temple,  attempted  to  put  an  end  to  him- 
self: but  two  of  his  friends  took  the  weapon  from  him  and  forced 
him  to  fly.  As  he  was  going,  it  is  said,  he  knelt  down,  and, 
stretching  forth  his  hands,  prayed  to  the  goddess  that  the 
Roman  people  might  be  slaves  forever,  as  a  reward  for  their 
ingratitude  and  treachery  to  him,  —  a  prayer  destined  to  be 
accomplished!  His  pursuers  pressing  on  him  at  the  Sublici- 
an  bridge,  his  two  friends,  to  facilitate  his  escape,  stood  and 
maintained  it  against  them  till  they  were  both  slain.  Grac- 
chus in  vain  prayed  for  some  one  to  supply  him  with  a  horse; 
then,  finding  escape  hopeless,  he  turned,  with  a  faithful  slave 
who  accompanied  him,  into  the  grove  of  the  goddess  Furina, 
where  he  ordered  his  slave  to  despatch  him  :  the  slave  obey- 
ed, and  then  slew  himself  over  his  body.  The  heads  of 
Gracchus  and  Fulvius  were  cut  off*  and  brought  to  Opimius, 
who  had  promised  their  weight  in  gold  for  them ;  and 
the  person  who  brought  the  former  is  said  to  have  previously 
taken  out  the  brain  and  filled  it  with  lead.  Their  bodies  and 
those  of  their  adherents,  to  the  number  of  three  thousand,* 
were  flung  into  the  Tiber,  their  properties  confiscated,  their 
wives  forbidden  to  put  on  mourning,  and  Licinia,  the  wife  of 
Gracchus,  was  even  deprived  of  her  dower,  contrary  to  the 
opinion  of  Mucius  Scaevola.  Opimius,  by  way  of  clemency, 
gave  the  young  Fulvius,  whom  he  had  cast  into  prison,  the 
choice  of  the  mode  of  his  death,  though  what  his  crime  was 
it  is  not  easy  to  see.  To  crown  all,  having  purified  the  city 
by  order  of  the  senate,  Opimius  built  a  temple  to  Concord ! 

Plutarch  compares  the  Gracchi  with  the  last  two  kings  of 
Sparta ;  and  the  parallel  between  Agis  and  Tiberius  is  cer- 
tainly just.  Both  were  actuated  by  the  purest  motives  ;  both 
attempted  to  remedy  an  incurable  evil ;  both  were  murdered 
by  the  covetous  oligarchs.  But  Agis  committed  no  illegal 
act,  while  the  deposition  of  Octavius  plainly  violated  the  con- 
stitution. The  comparison  of  C.  Gracchus  with  Cleomenes  is 
less  just ;  the  Roman  was  the  better  man,  though,  but  for  his 

*  Orosius,  (v.  12,)  who  wrote  from  Livy,  says  that  only  250  were  slain 
on  the  Aventme,  but  that  Opimius  afterwards  put  to  death  more  than 
3000  persons,  without  trial,  who  were  mostly  innocent. 


THE    GRACCHI    AND    THEIR    MEASURES.  307 

law  increasing  the  power  of  the  senate,  we  might  say  that 
he  was  a  demagogue,  like  Pericles,  who  cared  not  what  evil 
he  introduced  provided  he  extended  his  own  influence.  In 
talent,  Caius  was  beyond  his  brother ;  his  eloquence  was  of 
the  highest  order  ;  and  if,  as  we  incline  to  believe,  his  views 
were  pure,  he  also  may  claim  to  be  ranked  among  Rome's 
most  illustrious  patriots. 

With  respect  to  the  great  measure  of  the  Gracchi,  the  re- 
sumption of  the  public  land,  its  legality  is  not  to  be  questioned; 
and  the  objects  proposed,  the  relief  of  the  people  and  increase 
of  the  free  population,  were  most  laudable.  But  a  hundred 
and  fifty  years  had  elapsed  since  the  conquest  of  Italy,  during 
which  there  had  been  few  or  no  assignments  of  land  ;  and 
such  dangers  are  apt  to  arise  from  disturbing  long  possession, 
even  though  not  strictly  legal  in  its  origin,  that  it  is  doubtful 
if  in  any  case  good  could  have  resulted  from  the  measure.  As 
it  was,  the  evil  was  beyond  cure ;  the  Republic  was  verging 
to  its  fall,  and  no  human  skill  could  avail  to  save  it.  Still  our 
applause  is  due  to  those  who  did  not  despair  of  it,  and  who 
manfully  attempted  to  stem  th^  torrent  of  vice  and  corrup- 
tion. 

Whatever  may  have  been  the  faults  of  the  Gracchi  and 
their  friends,  the  nobility  have  little  claim  on  our  sympathy  ; 
for  they  used  their  victory  with  the  greatest  insolence  and  cru- 
elty. When  they  had  glutted  their  vengeance,  they  began  to 
think  of  their  interest ;  a  law  was  passed  allowing  those  who 
had  received  lands  under  the  Sempronian  law,  to  sell  them, 
and  the  rich  soon  had  them  again  by  purchase,  or  under  that 
pretext.  Sp.  Thorius,  a  tribune,  then  (645)  directed  that  no 
more  land  should  be  divided  ;  that  those  who  held  it  should 
keep  it,  on  payment  of  a  quit-rent,  to  be  annually  distributed 
among  the  people,  —  a  measure  which,  though  it  might  re- 
lieve the  poor,  had  no  effect  on  the  increase  of  the  free  poji- 
ulation,  the  great  object  of  Tib.  Gracchus.  This,  however, 
was  not  pleasing  to  the  oligarchs  :  so  another  tribune,  to  grat- 
ify them,  did  away  with  the  quit-rents  altogether  ;  and  thus 
ended  all  the  hopes  of  the  people. 

It  is  remarkable  that,  at  the  time  the  Roman  people  were  thus 
voting  away  their  rights,  they  actually  had  the  ballot,  and,  we 
may  say,  universal  suffrage.  In  614  Q,.  Gabinius,  a  tribune 
of  low  birth,  had  a  tahellarian*  law  passed,  by  which  the 
people  were  to  vote  with  tablets  on  the  election  of  magistrates ; 

*  So  named  from  the  wooden  tablets  with  which  they  gave  theirvotesi 


308  HISTORY    OF    ROME. 

in  618,  L.  Cassius,  the  well-known  rigid  judge,  when  tribune, 
extended  this  principle  to  trials  ;  and  in  622,  C.  Papirius  Car- 
bo  further  extended  it  to  the  voting  on  laws :  *  yet  we  see  of 
how  little  avail  it  was.  Cicero  t  remarks  that  after  it  was  in- 
troduced more  state  criminals  escaped  than  when  the  people 
voted  openly ;  and  we  know  how  such  acquittals  were  obtained 
by  the  plunderers  of  the  provinces. 

L.  Opimius  was  accused  in  632,  by  the  tribune  Q,.  Decius, 
for  having  put  citizens  to  death  without  trial ;  and  it  ig  rath- 
er startling  to  find  the  consul  of  that  year,  C.  Papirius  Carbo, 
the  friend  of  the  Gracchi,  exerting  his  eloquence  (in  which  he 
excelled)  in  his  defence,  and  maintaining  that  C.  Gracchus 
had  been  justly  slain.  Opimius  of  course  was  acquitted.  This 
change  of  party  did  not,  however,  avail  Carbo:  he  was  prbs- 
ecutec?  the  next  year  (633)  by  the  young  orator  L.  Crassus, 
for  his  share,  as  it  would  seem,  in  the  measures  of  the  Grac- 
chi, and  seeing  no  prospect  of  escape  he  put  an  end  to  his 
own  life. 

Having  concluded  the  narrative  of  this  first  civil  discord, 
we  will  cast  a  glance  over  the  foreign  affairs  of  the  state  at 
this  period. 

When  Attalus  of  Pergamus  left  his  kingdom  to  the  Ro- 
man people,  (619,)  his  natural  brother  Aristonicus  took  up 
arms  to  assert  his  claim  to  it.  There  was  perhaps  some 
doubt  in  the  senate  as  to  the  justice  of  their  cause ;  for  it  was 
hot  till  two  years  after  (621)  that  Asia  was  decreed  as  a  prov- 
ince to  the  consul  P.  Licinius  Crassus,  who,  though  he  was 
chief  pontiff,  and  therefore  bound  not  to  leave  Italy,  led  an 
army  thither.  But  thinking  more  on  booty  than  war,  he  was 
defeated  and  made  a  prisoner  in  a  battle  fought  near  Smyrna, 
and  he  was  put  to  death  by  the  victor.  Aristonicus,  however, 
was  forced  to  surrender  (623)  to  M.  Perperna,  and  the  king- 
dom of  Attalus  became  a  Roman  province  under  the  title 
of  Asia. 

In  627  the  consul  Fulvius,  as  above  related,  led  an  army  to 
the  aid  of  the  Massilians  against  the  Salluvian  Gauls.  The  con- 
sul C.  Sextius  (628)  gave  this  people  a  defeat  at  a  place,  af- 
terwards named  from  him  and  its  warm  springs,  Aquae  Sextiae, 
(Aix.)  The  Allobroges  and  Arvernians  were  next  attacked, 
under  the  pretence  of  their  having  given  shelter  to  the  king 


*  Cicero,  Laws,  iii.  16. 

t  Laws,  iii.  17.    The  rule  he  here  gives  is  as  follows ;  '^Optimatibus 
nota,  plebi  libera  sunto  (sufira^.") 


i 


THE    JUGURTHINE    WAR. 

of  the  Salluvians,  and  having  ravaged  the  lands  of  the  ^du- 
ans,  who  were  the  allies  of  Rome.  They  were  reduced 
(630)  by  the  consul  Cn.  Domitius.  The  next  year  Q,.  Fabi- 
us  Maximus,  the  colleague  of  Opimius,  gained  a  great  victo- 
ry over  the  Allobroges,  whose  king,  Betultus,  having  gone  to 
Rome  to  excuse  himself  to  the  senate,  was  detained,  and 
placed  in  custody  at  Alba,  and  directions  were  sent  to  bring 
his  son  to  Rome  also,  as  their  presence  in  Gaul  was  danger- 
ous. In  634  the  colony  of  Narbo  MarCius  (Narbonne)  was 
founded  by  d.  Marcius  Rex,  and  the  Roman  dominion  in 
Gaul  now  extended  to  the  Pyrenees. 


I 


CHAPTER  II. 

THE  JUGURTHINE  WAR. DEFEAT  AND  DEATH  OF  ADHERBAL. 

BESTIA  IN  AFRICA. JUGURTHA  AT  ROME. DEFEAT  OF 

AULUS. METELLUS    IN    AFRICA. ATTACK    ON    ZAMA.  ^ — 

NEGOTIATIONS      WITH      JUGURTHA.  ^  TAKING      OF     THALA. 

CAIUS  MARIUS. TAKING  OF  CAPSA.  TAKING    OF    THE 

CASTLE  ON   THE    MULUCHA. SULLA    AND    BOCCHUS. DE- 
LIVERY   UP    OF    JUGURTHA. HIS  END. CIMBRIC  WAR.  — 

VICTORY     AT      AQUiE      SEXTIiE. VICTORY     AT     VERCELLiE. 

INSURRECTION    OF   THE    SLAVES    IN    SICILY. 

A  WAR  now  broke  out  which,  as  narrated  by  an  excellent 
historian,*  displays  in  an  appalling  manner  the  abandoned 
profligacy  and  corruption  of  the  Roman  nobility  at  this  time. 

Micipsa,  king  of  Numidia,  died,  (634,)  leaving  two  sons; 
Adherbal  and  Hiempsal,  with  whom  he  joined  his  nephew, 
Jugurtha,  the  son  of  Manastabal,  as  a  partner  in  the  kingdom. 
Jugurtha  was  a  young  man  of  talent,  highly  popular  with 
the  army,  ambitious,  and  hungering  after  dominion  with  the 
avidity  which  has  at  all  times  characterized  Eastern  and 
African  princes,  and  like  them  unscrupulous  as  to  means. 
He  had  been  incited  by  many  Romans  of  rank  whom  he 
was  intimate  with  at  Numantia,  to  seize  the  kingdom  on  the 
death  of  Micipsa,  and  assured  by  them  that  money  was 
omnipotent  at  Rome.     Accordingly  he  soon  had  Hiempsal, 

*  C.  Sallustius  Crispus. 


9el(k  mSTOKY  Of  E09IB. 

the  more  spirited  of  the  two  princes,  murdered ;  and,  when 
Adherbal  took  up  arms  to  defend  himself,  he  defeated  him 
uid  drove  him  out  of  his  kingdom. 

Adherbal  repaired  to  Rome,  whither  he  was  followed  by 
envoys  from  Jugurtha,  bearing  plenty  of  gold  and  silver, 
which  they  distributed  to  such  eflfect,  that  when  the  senate 
had  heard  both  parties,  they  decreed  that  ten  commissioners 
should  go  out  to  divide  tlie  realm  of  Micipsa  between  Ad- 
herbal and  Jugurtha  \  L.  Opimius  was  at  the  head  of  the 
commission,  ((So,)  and  Jugurtha  plied  him  and  most  of  his 
colleagues  so  well  with  gifts  and  promises,  that  the  far  more 
valuable  half  was  given  to  him ;  and  so  convinced  was  he 
now  of  the  venality  of  every  one  at  Rome,  that  they  were 
hardly  gone  when  he  invaded  and  plundered  Adherbal's 
dominions,  hoping  thus  to  provoke  him  to  a  war.  But  Ad- 
herbal, a  quiet,  timid  prince,  contented  himself  with  sending 
an  embassy  to  complain  of  the  injury.  Jugurtha  replied  by 
reentering  his  realm  at  the  head  of  a  large  army.  Adherbal 
assembled  an  army  ;  but  Jugurtha  fell  on  his  camp,  near  the 
town  of  Cirta,  in  the  night,  and  cut  his  troops  to  pieces. 
Adherbal  fled  to  Cirta,  which  would  have  been  taken,  but 
that  there  happened  to  be  in  it  a  great  number  of  Italian 
traders,  who  n^anned  the  walls  and  defended  it.  Jugurtha, 
aware  that  Adherbal  had  sent  to  Rome,  pressed  on  the  siege 
with  all  his  might,  hoping  to  take  the  town  before  any  one 
could  come  to  prevent  him.  Three  commissioners,  how- 
ever, arrived,  with  orders  for  the  kings  to  abstain  from  war, 
and  decide  their  quarrel  by  equity.  Jugurtha,  alleging  that 
he  had  taken  up  arms  in  self-defence,  as  Adherbal  had 
plotted  against  his  life,  said  he  would  send  envoys  to  Rome 
to. explain  all  matters.  The  commissioners  then  went  away, 
not  having  been  allowed  to  see  Adherbal,  and  Jugurtha 
urged  on  the  siege  more  vigorously  than  ever. 

Two  of  Adherbal's  followers,  however,  made  their  way 
through  the  camp  of  the  besiegers,  and  brought  a  letter  from 
him  to  the  senate.  Some  were  for  sending  an  army  to 
Africa  ;  but  the  influence  of  Jugurtha's  party  succeeded  in 
having  only  a  commission  appointed,  composed  however  of 
men  of  the  highest  rank,  among  whom  was  M.  iEmilius 
Scaurus,  at  that  time  the  chief  of  the  senate,  a  man  of  talents 
of  a  high  order,  but  of  insatiable  avarice  and  ambition.  On 
arriving  at  Utica  they  sent  orders  to  Jugurtha  to  come  to 
them  in  the  province  ;  and  having  made  one  more  desperate 
but  fruitless  effort  to  storm  the  town,  he  obeyed,  fearing  to 


THE   JUGURTHINE   WAR.  311 

irritate  Scaurus.  But  the  interview  was  of  no  effect,  for, 
after  wasting  words  in  vain,  the  commissioners  went  home. 
It  would  perhaps  have  been  better  for  Adherbal  if  they  had 
not  come  at  all ;  for  the  Italians  in  Cirta,  convinced  that  the 
power  of  Rome  would  be  a  security  to  them,  insisted  on  his 
surrendering  the  town,  only  stipulating  for  his  life ;  and, 
though  he  knew  how  little  reliance  was  to  be  placed  on 
Jugurtha's  faith,  he  yielded,  as  it  was  in  their  power  to 
compel  him.  Jugurtha  first  put  Adherbal  to  death,  with 
torture,  and  then  made  a  promiscuous  slaughter  of  the  male 
inhabitants,  the  Italian  traders  included,  (640.) 

Jugurtha's  pensioners  at  Rome  attempted  to  gloss  over 
even  this  atrocious  deed  ;  but  C.  Memmius,  a  tribune  elect, 
in  his  harangues  to  the  people,  so  exposed  the  motives  of 
those  who  advocated  his  cause,  that  the  senate  grew  alarmed, 
and  by  the  Sempronian  law  Numidia  was  assigned  as  one  of 
the  provinces  of  the  future  consuls.  It  fell  to  L.  Calpurnius 
Bestia,  (641;)  an  army  was  levied,  and  all  preparations  made 
for  war.  Jugurtha  was  not  a  little  surprised  when  he  heard 
of  this.  He  sent  his  son  and  two  of  his  friends  as  envoys  to 
Rome,  to  bribe  as  before ;  but  they  were  ordered  to  quit 
Italy,  unless  they  were  come  to  make  a  surrender  of  Jugur- 
tha and  his  kingdom.  They  therefore  returned  without 
having  effected  any  thing.  The  consul,  who,  like  so  many 
others,  was  a  slave  to  avarice,  having  selected  as  his  legates 
Scaurus  and  some  other  men  of  influence,  whose  authority, 
he  hoped,  would  defend  him  if  he  acted  wrong,  passed  over 
to  Africa  with  his  troops,  and  made  a  brisk  inroad  into 
Numidia.  Jugurtha,  instead  of  trying  the  chance  of  war, 
assailed  him  by  large  offers  of  money,  displaying  at  the  same 
time  the  difficulties  of  the  war ;  and  Scaurus,  whose  prudence 
had  hitherto  been  proof  against  all  his  offers,  yielded  at  last, 
and  went  hand  in  hand  with  the  consul.  They  agreed  to  a 
peace  with  him  ;  he  came  to  the  camp  and  made  a  surrender 
of  himself,  and  delivered  to  the  quaestor  thirty  elephants,  a 
good  number  of  horses  and  cattle  for  the  army,  and  a  small 
quantity  of  money.  Bestia  then  went  to  Rome  to  hold  the 
elections,  as  his  colleague  was  dead. 

The  senate  were  dubious  how  to  act;  the  disgraceful 
transaction  was  vehemently  reprobated  by  the  people,  but 
the  authority  of  Scaurus  was  great  with  them.  Memmius 
Mcizcd  the  occasion  of  assailing  the  nobility ;  he  detailed 
their  acts  of  cruelty  and  oppression,  he  exposed  their  avarice, 
venality,  and  corruption,  and  he  finally  succeeded  in  having 


312  HISTORY   OP   ROME. 

the. praetor  L.  Cassius  sent  to  Africa  to  bring  JugurtKa  to 
Rome,  in  order  to  convict  Scaurus  and  the  others  %  his 
evidence.  Cassius  having  pledged  the  public  faith  and  his 
own,  (which  was  of  equal  weight,)  for  his  safety,  Jugurtha 
came  with  him  to  Rome,  (642.)  Here,  besides  his  former 
friends,  he  gained  C.  Basbius,  one  of  Memmius'  colleagues  ; 
and  when  Memmius  produced  him  before  the  people,  and, 
having  enumerated  all  his  crimes,  called  on  him  to  name 
those  who  had  aided  and  abetted  him  in  them,  Baebius 
ordered  him  not  to  answer.  The  people  were  furious,  but 
Baebius  heeded  them  not ;  and  Jugurtha  soon  ventured  on 
another  murder. 

There  was  at  Rome  a  cousin  of  his,  named  Massiva,  the 
son  of  Gulussa,  whom  the  consul  elect,  Sp.  Postumius  Al- 
binus,  anxious  for  the  glory  of  a  war,  persuaded  to  apply  to 
the  senate  for  the  kingdom  of  Numidia.  Jugurtha,  seeing 
him  likely  to  succeed,  desired  his  confidant,  Bomilcar,  to 
have  him  put  out  of  the  way.  Assassins  were  then,  as  in 
more  modern  times,  easily  to  be  procured  at  Rome.  Mas- 
siva was  slain,  but  his  murderer,  on  being  seized,  informed 
against  Bomilcar,  who,  more  in  accordance  with  equity  than 
with  the  law  of  nations,  was  arrested.  Fifty  of  Jugurtha's 
friends  gave  bail  for  him  ;  but  Jugurtha,  finding  this  to  be  a 
case  beyond  his  money,  sent  him  away,  heedless  of  his  bail, 
for  he  feared  that  his  other  subjects  would  be  less  zealous  to 
serve  him  if  he  let  Bomilcar  suffer.  In  a  few  days  he  him- 
self was  ordered  to  quit  Italy.  It  is  said  that  as  he  was 
going  out  of  Rome  he  turned  back,  and  gazing  on  it,  said, 
"  Venal  city,  and  soon  to  perish  if  a  purchaser  were  to  be 
found ! " 

Albinus  passed  over  to  Africa  without  delay  ;  but,  with  all 
his  diligence,  he  was  baffled  by  Jugurtha,  who  never  would 
give  an  opportunity  of  fighting,  and  kept  illuding  him  with 
offers  of  surrender.  Many  people  suspected  that  the  consul 
and  he  understood  one  another.  The  elections  being  at 
hand,  Albinus  returned  to  Rome,  leaving  his  brother  Aulus 
in  command  of  the  army.  A  delay  having  occurred,  in 
consequence  of  two  of  the  tribunes  wanting  to  remain  in 
office,  in  opposition  to  their  colleagues,  Aulus,  hoping  to 
end  the  war,  or  extort  money  from  Jugurtha,  led  out  his 
troops  in  the  month  of  January,  (643,)  and  by-long  marches 
came  to  a  town  named  Suthul,  where  the  royal  treasures  lay. 
The  town  was  strong  by  nature  and  art:  Jugurtha  mocked 
at  the  folly  of  the  legate,  and,  by  holding  out  hopes  of  sur- 


METELLUS    IN    AFRICA.  313 

I'ender,  drew  him  away  from  it.  By  bribes  he  gained  some 
of  the  centurions  and  captains  of  horse  to  promise  to  desert, 
others  to  quit  their  posts  :  he  then  suddenly  assailed  the 
camp  in  the  night ;  a  centurion  admitted  him  ;  the  Romans 
fled  to  an  adjacent  hill,  where  they  were  obliged  to  surrender, 
pass  under  the  yoke,  and  engage  to  evacuate  Numidia  within 
ten  days. 

Grief,  terror,  and  indignation  prevailed  at  Ronae  when  this 
disgraceful  treaty  was  known.  The  senate,  as  was  always 
the  case,  pronounced  it  not  to  be  binding.  Albums  hastened 
to  Africa,  burning  to  efface  the  shame ;  but  he  found  the 
troops  in  such  a  state  of  indiscipline  that  he  could  not  ven- 
ture on  any  operations.  At  Rome,  the  tribune  C.  Mamilius 
Limetanus  took  advantage  of  the  state  of  public  feeling,  to 
bring  in  a  bill  for  inquiring  into  the  conduct  of  those  who 
had  advised  Jugurtha  to  neglect  the  decrees  of  the  senate, 
and  of  those  who  had  taken  bribes  from  him,  had  given  him 
back  the  elephants  and  deserters,  or  made  treaties  with  him. 
The  nobility,  conscious  of  their  guilt,  strained  every  nerve 
against  the  bill ;  the  people,  more  out  of  hatred  to  them  than 
regard  for  the  republic,  urged  it  on  and  passed  it.  Strange 
to  say,  Scaurus,  one  of  the  most  guilty,  had  influence  enough 
to  have  himself  chosen  among  the  three  inquisitors  whom 
the  bill  appointed.  The  inquiry  was  prosecuted  with  great 
asperity,  the  people  being  delighted  to  have  an  opportunity 
of  humbling  the  nobility  ;  common  fame  was  deemed  suffi- 
cient evidence,  and  Opimius,  Bestia,  Albinus  and  others, 
were  condemned. 

Albinus'  successor  (643)  was  Q,.  Caecilius  Metellus,  a  man 
who  was  an  honor  to  his  order,  of  high  talents,  of  stainless 
integrity,  of  pure  morals;  his  only  defect  was  pride,  "the 
common  evil  of  the  nobility,"  as  the  historian  observes.  He 
found  the  army  as  Scipio  Africanus  had  found  his  at  Car- 
thage and  Numantia,  and  he  employed  the  same  means  to 
restore  its  discipline.  Jugurtha,  aware  of  the  kind  of  man 
he  had  to  deal  with,  and  that  there  was  now  no  room  for 
bribes,  began  to  think  of  submission  in  earnest,  and  he  sent 
envoys  offering  a  surrender,  and  stipulating  only  for  the 
lives  of  himself  and  his  children.  But  Metellus,  knowing 
there  would  be  no  peace  in  Africa  while  Jugurtha  lived, 
treated  with  the  envoys  separately,  and  by  large  promises 
induced  some  of  them  to  engage  to  deliver  him  up  alive  or 
dead  :  in  public  he  gave  them  an  ambiguous  reply. 

In  a  few  days  he  entered  Numidia,  but  saw  no  signs  of 

27  NN 


814  >^fiISTORr   OF    BOME. 

war ;  the  peasantry  tind  their  cattle  were  in  the  fields,  the 
governors  of  towns  came  forth  to  meet  him,  and  furnished 
every  thing  he  demanded.  He  put  a  garrison  into  a  large 
town  named  Vaga,  which  was  a  place  of  great  trade,  and 
would  therefore  be  of  advantage  if  the  war  was  to  continue. 
Meantime  Jugurtha  sent  a  still  more  pressing  embassy  ;  but 
Metellus,  as  before,  engaged  the  envoys  to  betray  him,  and, 
without  promising  or  refusing  him  the  peace  he  sought, 
waited  for  them  to  perform  their  engagements. 

Jugurtha,  finding  himself  assailed  by  his  own  arts,  and 
that  all  hopes  were  illusive,  resolved  once  more  to  try  the 
fate  of  arms.  Learning  that  Metellus  was  on  his  march  for 
a  river  named  Muthul,  he  placed  his  troops  in  ambush  on  a 
hill  near  it,  by  which  the  Roman  army  had  to  pass ;  but  the 
wild  olives  and  myrtles  among  which  they  lay  did  not  suffi- 
ciently conceal  them,  and  Metellus  had  time  to  prepare  for 
action.  Jugurtha  displayed  all  the  talent  of  an  able  general, 
but  his  troops  were  far  inferior  in  quality  to  those  to  which 
they  were  opposed,  and,  after  a  hard-fought  contest,  a  com- 
plete victory  remained  with  the  Romans.  Having  given  his 
men  four  days'  rest,  Metellus  led  them  into  the  best  parts  of 
Numidia,  where  he  laid  waste  the  fields,  took  and  burned 
towns  and  castles,  putting  all  the  males  to  the  sword,  and 
giving  the  plunder  to  his  soldiers.  Numbers  of  places 
therefore  submitted  and  received  garrisons,  and  Jugurtha 
became  greatly  terrified  at  this  mode  of  conducting  the  war. 
Aware  that  nothing  was  to  be  hoped  from  a  general  action, 
he  left  the  army  he  had  assembled  where  it  was,  and,  placing 
himself  at  the  head  of  a  select  body  of  horse,  hovered  about 
the  Romans,  attacking  them  when  scattered,  and  destroying 
the  forage  and  the  springs  of  water.  These  desultory  attacks 
greatly  harassed  the  Roman  troops ;  and,  as  the  only  means 
of  forcing  Jugurtha  to  an  action,  Metellus  resolved  to  lay 
siege  to  the  large  and  strong  town  of  Zama.  Jugurtha, 
learning  his  design  from  deserters,  hastened  thither  before 
him,  and  conjured  the  townsmen  to  hold  out  bravely,  prom- 
ising to  come  with  an  army  to  their  relief,  and  leaving  them 
the  deserters  to  assist  in  the  defence. 

Metellus,  on  coming  before  Zama,  attempted  a  storm  :  in 
the  heat  of  the  engagement  Jugurtha  made  a  sudden  attack 
on  the  Roman  camp  and  broke  into  it ;  the  soldiers  fled  in 
dismay  toward  those  who  were  attacking  the  town.  Me- 
tellus sent  his  legate  Marius  with  the  horse  and  some  cohorts 
6f  the  allies  to  the  defence  of  the  camp,  and  the  Numidians 


NEGOTIATIONS    WITH   JUGURTHA.  315 

were  driven  out  with  loss.  Next  day,  when  they  would 
renew  the  attack,  they  found  the  horse  prepared  to  receive 
them.  A  smart  cavalry  action  commenced  and  lasted  all 
through  the  day,  and  at  the  same  time  the  town  was 
gallantly  attacked  and  defended  :  night   ended   the   conflict. 

Metellus,  seeing  that  there  was  no  chance  of  taking  the 
town,  or  of  making  Jugurtha  fight,  except  when  and  where 
he  pleased,  and  that  the  summer  was  at  an  end,  raised  the 
siege  and  led  his  troops  into  the  province  for  the  winter. 
He  then  renewed  his  secret  dealings  with  Jugurtha's  friends  j 
and  having  induced  even  Bomilcar  to  come  to  him  privately, 
he  engaged  him,  by  a  promise  of  pardon  from  the  senate,  to 
undertake  to  deliver  up  his  master.  Bomilcar  took  the  first 
opportunity  to  urge  Jugurtha  to  a  surrender,  by  picturing 
to  him  the  wretched  condition  to  which  he  was  reduced, 
and  the  danger  of  the  Numidians  making  terms  for  them- 
selves without  him.  Envoys  were  therefore  sent  to  Metellus, 
offering  an  unconditional  surrender.  Metellus,  having  as- 
sembled all  the  senators  who  were  in  Africa,  and  other  fit 
persons,  held  a  council  after  the  Roman  usage,  and  with  their 
concurrence  sent  orders  to  Jugurtha  to  deliver  up  200,000 
pounds  of  silver,  all  his  elephants,  and  a  part  of  his  horse? 
and  arms.  This  being  done,  he  ordered  him  to  send  him 
the  deserters  :  all  were  brought,  except  a  few  who  had  time 
to  make  their  escape  to  the  Moorish  king  Bocchus.  Jugur- 
tha was  then  directed  to  repair  to  the  town  of  Tisidium, 
there  to  learn  his  fate;  but  his  guilty  conscience  made  him 
hesitate,  and  after  fluctuating  a  few  days  he  resolved  once 
more  to  try  the  fortune  of  war.  The  senate  continued  Me- 
tellus in  his  command  as  proconsul,  (644.) 

Jugurtha  now  strained  every  nerve.  At  his  instigation 
the  people  of  Vaga  treacherously  massacred  the  Roman  gar-f 
rison  ;  but  they  paid  the  penalty  of  their  crime  within  two 
days;  for  when  Metellus  heard  of  it,  he  took  what  troops  be 
had  with  him,  set  out  in  the  night,  came  on  the  Vagenses  by 
surprise,  slaughtered  them,  and  gave  the  town  up  to  plunder. 
About  this  time  Bomilcar's  plans  failed.  He  had  associated 
with  himself  a  man  of  high  rank  named  Nabdalsa,  to  whom 
he  wrote  a  letter  urging  immediate  action.  Nabdalsa,  lying 
down  to  rest,  put  the  letter  on  his  pillow,  and  his  secretary 
coming  into  the  tent  while  he  was  asleep,  took  and  read  it. 
He  immediately  hastened  to  give  Jugurtha  information. 
Nabdalsa  was  saved  by  his  rank  and  his  protestations  of  hia 
intention  to  reveal  the  plot,  but  Bomilcar  and  several  others 


316  HISTORY    OF    ROME. 

were  put  to  death ;  some  fled  to  the  Romans,  some  to  Boc* 
chus,  king  of  the  Gaetulians,  and  Jugurtha  remained  with- 
out any  one  in  whom  he  could  place  confidence,  haunted  by 
fear  and  suspicion.  In  this  condition  he  was  forced  to  an 
action,  and  defeated  by  Metellus.  He  fled  to  a  large  town 
named  Thala ;  whither  Metellus,  though  there  was  no  water 
to  be  had  for  the  space  of  fifty  miles,  resolved  to  pursue  him. 
He  collected  vessels  of  every  kind,  which  he  filled  at  the  near- 
est river,  and  he  ordered  the  Numidians  to  convey  supplies 
of  water  to  a  place  which  he  designated.  When  he  reached 
that  place  a  copious  rain  fell,  and  he  thus  came  before  Tha- 
la, from  which  Jugurtha  fled  in  the  night  with  a  part  of  his 
treasure.  After  a  siege  of  forty  days  the  town  was  taken  ; 
but  the  deserters  had  collected  the  things  of  most  value  into 
the  palace,  and  then,  after  feasting  and  drinking,  set  fire  to  it 
and  perished  in  the  flames.  Jugurtha  now  sought  to  arm  the 
Gaetulians  in  his  cause,  and  he  prevailed  on  Bocchus,  whose 
daughter  was  among  his  wives,  to  form  an  alliance  with  him. 
Such  was  the  condition  of  the  war  when  (645)  the  consul 
Marius  came  out  to  supersede  Metellus. 

C.  Marius  *  was  the  son  of  a  small  proprietor  at  Arpinum 
in  the  Volscian  country ;  he  entered  the  army  when  young, 
and  distinguished  himself  by  his  courage,  his  military  skill, 
his  temperance,  and  other  qualities  becoming  a  good  soldier. 
He  rose  through  the  inferior  grades  of  the  service,  and  was 
at  length  appointed  by  the  people,  who  hardly  knew  him  but 
by  fame,  to  be  a  military  tribune ;  he  served  under  Scipio  at 
Numantia,  (thus  he  and  Jugurtha  were  fellow-soldiers,)  and 
that  able  man  foretold, it  is  said, his  future  eminence.  In  the  year 
633  he  was  made  a  tribune  of  the  people,  and  he  had  a  law 
passed  to  lessen  the  influence  of  the  nobility  at  elections,  and 
another  abrogating  that  by  which  corn  was  ordered  to  be 
Sold  tb  the  people  at  a  reduced  price,  — certainly  no  dema- 
gogic measure  :  but  the  hardy  peasant  probably  saw,  that  an 
idle  town-population  could  not  but  be  injurious  to  the  state. 
He  then  stood  for  both  aedileships  in  the  one  day,  and  failed, 
but  undismayed  he  shortly  after  sought  the  prsetorship,  and 
gained  it,  though  he  was  accused  of  having  used  unfair  means. 
He  next  had,  as  propraetor,  the  government  of  Ulterior  Spain, 
which  he  cleared  of  the  bands  of  robbers  that  infested  it. 
Marius  married  into  the  noble  family  of  the  Julii ;  and  his 
character  stood  so  high,  that  Metellus,  when  appointed  to 
Numidia,  made  him  one  of  his  legates. 

*  See  Plutarch,  Marius. 


CAIUS    MARIUS.  317 

The  great  object  of  Marius'  ambition  was  the  consulate  ; 
but  this  was  an  office  which  had  hitherto  been  the  exclusive 
property  of  the  nobility,  to  which  no  neio  man*  be  his  merit 
what  it  might,  had  ever  dreamed  of  aspiring.  Marius  howev- 
er knew  that  the  times  were  changed,  and  that  the  people  would 
gladly  seize  an  occasion  to  spite  the  nobility.  Vulgar  minds 
are  commonly  superstitious ;  that  of  Marius  was  eminently  so, 
and  it  happened  that  as  he  was  sacrificing,  when  in  winter  quar- 
ters at  Utica,  the  haruspeX  declared  that  mighty  things  were 
portended  to  him,  and  bade  him  rely  on  the  gods  and  do 
what  he  was  thinking  of  He  instantly  applied  to  Metellus 
for  leave  to  go  to  Rome  to  sue  for  the  consulate.  The  proud 
noble  could  not  conceal  his  amazement ;  by  way  of  friend- 
ship he  advised  him  to  moderate  his  ambition,  and  seek  only 
what  was  within  his  reach  ;  telling  him,  however,  that  he  would 
give  him  leave  when  the  public  service  permitted  it,  Marius 
applied  again  and  again  to  no  effect;  he  then  became  exas- 
perated, and  had  recourse  to  all  the  vulgar  modes  of  gaining 
favor  with  the  various  classes  of  men ;  he  relaxed  the  discipline 
of  his  soldiers ;  to  the  Italian  traders,  of  whom  there  was  a 
great  number  at  Utica,  and  to  whom  the  war  was  very  injuri- 
ous, he  threw  the  whole  blame  of  its  continuance  on  the 
general's  love  of  power,  adding  that  if  he  had  but  one  half 
of  the  army  he  would  soon  have  Jugurtha  in  chains.  There 
was  moreover  in  the  Roman  quarters  a  brother  of  Jugurtha'Sj 
named  Gauda,  a  man  of  weak  mind,  but  to  whom  Micipsa 
had  left  the  kingdom  in  remainder,  who  was  at  this  time  highly 
offended  because  Metellus  had  refused  him  a  guard  of  Roman 
horse  and  a  seat  of  honor  beside  himself.  While  he  was  in 
this  mood  Marius  accosted  him,  exaggerated  the  affront  he 
had  received,  called  him  a  great  man,  who  would  with- 
out doubt  be  king  of  Numidia  if  Jugurtha  were  taken  or 
slain,  as  he  would  be  if  he  were  consul.  The  consequence  was 
that  all  these  people  wrote  to  their  friends  at  Rome,  inveighing 
against  Metellus,  and  desiring  the  command  to  be  transferred 
to  Marius. 

Metellus,  having  delayed  Marius  as  long  as  he  could,  at 
length  let  him  go  home.  He  was  received  with  high  favor 
by  the  people ;  he  was  extolled,  Metellus  abused  ;  the  one 
was  a  noble,  the  other,  one  of  themselves,  the  man  of  the  peo- 
ple ;  party  spirit  is  always  blind  to  the  defects  of  its  favorites,! 

*  A  novus  homo,  or  '  new  man,'  was  one  in  whose  family  there  had 
been  no  curule  dignity,  and  who  therefore  had  no  images. 

t  Political  partisans  are,  in  this,  like  lovers.    "  Mr.  Wilks  squints  no 

27* 


318  HISTORY  OF   ROME. 

and  the  merits  of  its  adversaries.  The  tribunes  harangued ; 
the  peasants  and  the  workmen  of  the  city  neglected  their 
business  to  support  Marius  ;  the  nobility  were  defeated,  and 
he  was  made  consul.  The  senate  had  already  decreed  Nu- 
midia  to  Metellus  ;  but  they  were  to  be  further  humbled  ;  a 
tribune  asked  the  people  whom  they  would  have  to  conduct 
the  war  with  Jugurtha,  and  they  replied,  Marius.* 

The  new  consul  set  no  bounds  to  his  insolent  exultation ; 
he  made  incessant  attacks  on  the  nobility,  vaunting  that  he 
had  won  the  consulate  from  them  as  spoils  from  a  vanquished 
enemy.  The  senate  dared  refuse  none  of  his  demands  for 
the  war ;  they  even  cheerfully  decreed  a  levy,  thinking  that 
the  people  would  be  unwilling  to  serve,  and  that  Marius 
would  thus  sink  in  their  favor.  But  it  was  quite  the  contrary ; 
all  were  eager  to  go  and  gain  fame  and  plunder  under  Marius ; 
who,  having  held  an  assembly,  in  which  as  usual  he  inveighed 
against  the  nobility  and  extolled  himself,  commenced  his 
levy.  In  this  he  set  the  pernicious  example  of  taking  any 
that  offered,  mostly  Capite-censi,  instead  of  raising  them  in 
the  old  way  from  the  classes :  f  he  knew  that  those  who  had 
nothing  to  lose,  and  all  to  gain,  were  best  suited  to  a  man 
greedy  of  power  and  indifferent  to  the  welfare  of  his  country. 
Having  thus  raised  more  than  had  been  decreed,  he  passed  over 
to  Africa,  where  the  army  was  given  up  to  him  by  the  legate 
Rutilius,  as  the  proud  spirit  of  Metellus  could  not  brook  the 
sight  of  his  insolent  rival.  Yet  so  variable  is  the  multitude, 
so  really  just  when  left  to  itself,  that  Metellus  was  received 
with  as  much  favor  by  the  people  as  by  the  senate  on  his  re- 
turn, and  he  obtained  a  triumph  and  the  title  of  Numidicus 
as  the  true  conqueror  of  Numidia.| 

Marius  displayed  great  energy  and  activity;  he  laid  the 
whole  country  waste,  and  forced  the  two  kings  to  keep  at  a 
distance.  Aware,  like  Metellus,  that  it  was  only  by  taking  his 
towns  he  could  reduce  Jugurtha,  and  desirous  of  performing 
some  feat  to  rival  that  of  the  capture  of  Thala,  he  fixed  on  a 
town  named  Capsa,  similarly  situated,  but  with  this  difference, 
that  while  there  were  springs  outside  of  the  former,  there 
was  but  one  at  the  latter,  and  that  within  the  walls.     Having 

more  than  a  gentleman  ought  to  do,"  said  an  admirer  of  that  remarka- 
ble man. 

*  This  was  a  manifest  violation  of  the  Sempronian  law.  See  above, 
p.  303. 

t  Not  those  of  Servius ;  see  above,  p.  172. 

t  Velleius  Paterculus,  ii.  11. 


SULLA   AND   BOCCHUS.  31^ 

made  his  men  load  themselves  and  the  beasts,  mostly  with 
skins  of  water  at  the  river  Tama,  he  set  forth  at  nightfall,  not 
saying  whither  he  was  going;  and  resting  by  day  and  march- 
ing by  night,  he  reached  before  day  on  the  third  morning  a 
range  of  hills  within  two  miles  of  Capsa ;  and  when  it  was 
day,  and  the  people  were  come  out  of  the  town,  he  ordered 
his  horse  and  light  troops  to  rush  for  the  gates.  In  this  way 
the  town  was  forced  to  capitulate  ;  but,  contrary  to  the  laws 
of  nations,  the  grown  males  were  put  to  the  sword,  the 
rest  sold,  the  plunder  given  to  the  soldiers,  and  the  town 
burnt. 

This  fortunate  piece  of  temerity,  for  it  was  nothing  better, 
greatly  magnified  the  fame  of  Marius,  and  scarcely  any 
place  ventured  to  resist  him.  He  now  proceeded  to  another 
act  of  similar  fool-hardiness.  There  was  near  the  river  Mu- 
lucha  a  strong  castle,  on  a  single  rock  in  the  plain,  in  which 
the  royal  treasures  were  deposited.  It  was  well  supplied 
with  men,  arms,  and  provisions,  and  had  a  good  spring  of 
water  ;  one  single  narrow  path  led  up  to  it  from  the  plain,  na- 
ture having  secured  it  on  all  other  sides.  Marius  spent  sever- 
al days  before  it ;  and  having  lost  some  of  his  best  men  to  no 
purpose,  he  was  thinking  of  retiring,  when  fortune  again  stood 
his  friend.  A  Ligurian,  seeing  some  snails  on  the  back  part 
of  the  rock,  climbed  up  to  get  them,  and  going  higher  and  high- 
er as  he  saw  them,  he  at  length  reached  the  summit.  He  de- 
scended again,  carefully  noting  the  way,  and  then  went  and 
informed  the  consul  of  his  discovery.  Marius  resolved  to 
take  advantage  of  it ;  he  sent  with  the  Ligurian  five  trum- 
peters and  four  centurions,  who  climbed  up  while  he  kept 
the  garrison  occupied  by  an  attack.  Suddenly  the  Roman 
trumpets  were  heard  to  sound  above  them,  and  the  women 
and  children  were  seen  flying  down  ;  Marius  then  urged  on 
his  men,  the  wall  was  scaled,  and  the  fort  carried. 

About  this  time  the  quaestor  L.  Cornelius  Sulla,*  afterwards 
so  renowned,  arrived  in  the  camp  with  a  large  body  of  horse, 
to  raise  which  he  had  been  left  in  Italy.  Jugurtha  having 
induced  Bocchus,  with  a  promise  of  a  third  of  his  kingdom; 
to  aid  him  effectually,  their  combined  forces  fell  one  evening 
on  the  Romans  as  they  were  marching  to  their  winter  quar- 
ters.    The  Romans  were  forced  to  retire  to  two  neighboring 

*  Sulla,  not  Sylla,  is  the  orthography  of  all  good  writers.  Tiie  Latin 
language  had  no  y  in  it  at  this  time.  Sulla,  i.  e.  surida,  is  said  tu  be  a 
diminutive  of  sura. 


320  HISTORY   OF   ROME. 

hills,  around  which  the  barbarians  bivouacked;  but  to- 
ward morning,  when  they  were  mostly  asleep,  the  Romans 
sounded  their  trumpets  and  rushed  down  and  slaughtered 
them.  In  the  neighborhood  of  Cirta,  four  days  after,  the  two 
kings  ventured  on  another  attack  ;  but  they  were  again  routed 
with  great  loss.  The  consul  then  went  into  quarters  for  the 
winter  at  Cirta,  whither  envoys  came  from  Bocchus,  request- 
ing that  two  trusty  persons  might  be  sent  to  confer  with  him. 
Marius  committed  the  affair  to  Sulla  and  the  legate  Manlius ; 
and  the  arguments  of  the  former  had  no  little  effect  on  the 
king,  who  soon  after  sent  five  other  envoys  to  Marius.  They 
were  so  unlucky  as  to  fall  in  with  robbers  on  their  way,  by 
whom  they  were  stript  and  plundered  ;  but  Sulla,  who  com- 
manded in  the  absence  of  Marius,  treated  them  with  great  kind- 
ness ;  and  on  the  return  of  the  consul  a  council  was  assem- 
bled, and  three  of  the  envoys  were,  as  Bocchus  had  desired, 
sent  to  Rome,  where  the  senate  granted  him  the  friendship 
and  alliance  which  he  sought,  provided  he  should  deserve  it. 

Bocchus  then  desired  that  Sulla  might  be  sent  to  him.  Sulla 
went  (646)  with  a  slight  escort,  and  having  run  no  small  risk 
of  being  captured  or  slain  by  Jugurtha,  through  whose  camp  he 
had  to  pass,  reached  the  Moorish  territories.  By  employing  all 
the  arts  of  a  skilful  negotiator,  and  working  on  the  hopes  and 
fears  of  the  king,  he  at  length  engaged  him  to  betray  Jugur- 
tha. The  crafty  Numidian  was  lured  to  a  conference,  and 
there  seized  and  delivered  up  to  Sulla.  Marius  remained  in 
Africa  as  proconsul  for  two  years.  He  was  chosen  consul  a 
second  time  in  his  absence,  and  he  triumphed  on  the  kalends 
of  January,  (648,)  the  day  of  his  entering  on  office.  Jugur- 
tha adorned  his  triumph,  and  at  its  conclusion  was  thrust 
nearly  naked  into  a  dungeon.  "  Hercules  ! "  said  he,  with  a 
forced  smile,  as  he  entered  it,  "  what  a  cold  bath  you  have  ! " 
He  was  there  left  to  perish  by  hunger,  and  his  guilty  life 
ended  on  the  sixth  day. 

The  cause  of  Marius  being  raised  a  second  time  to  the 
consulate,  in  violation  of  rule  and  precedent,  was  an  immi- 
nent danger  which  menaced  the  republic  from  the  north, 
and  which  he  alone  was  judged  able  to  avert. 

In  the  year  639  intelligence  reached  Rome  of  the  approach 
of  a  barbarous  people  named  Cimbrians  to  the  north-eastern 
frontier  of  Italy.  This  people  is  supposed  to  have  inhabited 
the  peninsula  of  Jutland,  and  those  parts  which  afterwards 
sent  forth  the  Anglo-Saxon  conquerors  of  England.  At 
this  time,  urged  by  sojne  of  the  causes  which  usually  set  bar- 


CIMBRIC    WAR.  321 

barous  tribes  in  motion,  they  resolved  to  migrate  southwards. 
The  consul  Cn.  Papirius  Carbo  gave  them  battle  in  the 
modern  Carinthia,  but  he  sustained  a  defeat.  The  barbari- 
ans, instead  of  advancing  into  Italy,  turned  back,  and  being 
joined  by  a  German  people  named  the  Teutones,  poured  into 
Southern  Gaul,  where  (643)  they  defeated  the  consul  M.  Ju- 
nius Silanus.  The  next  year  the  consul  M.  Aurelius  Scaurus 
had  a  similar  fate ;  and  in  the  following  year  (645)  the  con- 
sul L.  Cassius  Longinus  was  defeated  and  slain  by  the  Tigu- 
rinians,  a  Helvetic  people  who  had  joined  the  Cimbrians,  and 
the  remnant  of  his  army  had  to  pass  under  the  yoke  to  escape 
destruction.  Q,.  Servilius  Caepio,  the  consul  of  the  year 
646,  turned  his  arms,  as  the  Cimbrians  appear  to  have  been 
in  Spain,  against  the  Tectosages,  and  plundered  their  capital 
Tolosa  (Toulouse)  of  its  sacred  treasure,  which  he  diverted 
to  his  own  use.  Csepio  was  continued  the  next  year  in  his 
command  ;  and  as  the  Cimbrians  were  returned  from  Spain, 
the  consul  Cn.  Manlius  led  his  army  into  Gaul ;  but  he  and 
CaBpio,  instead  of  uniting  their  forces,  wrangled  and  quar- 
relled with  each  other,  and  kept  separate  camps  on  different 
sides  of  the  Rhone ;  in  consequence  of  which  both  their  ar- 
mies were  literally  annihilated  by  the  barbarians,  who  now 
seem  to  have  seriously  thought  of  invading  Italy.  It  was  at 
this  conjuncture  that  Marius  was  made  consul  a  second 
time^ 

The  Cimbrians  however  returned  to  Spain,  where  they  re- 
mained during  this  and  the  following  year.  Marius,  who 
was  made  consul  a  third  time,  (649,)  employed  himself  chief- 
ly in  restoring  the  discipline  of  the  army  ;  and  Sulla,  who 
was  his  legate  the  first  and  a  tribune  the  second  year,  dis- 
played his  diplomatic  talent  now  in  Gaul  as  before  in  Numidia, 
and  thus  augmented  the  envy  and  hatred  with  which  the 
rude,  ferocious  consul  regarded  him.  His  colleague  happening 
to  die  just  before  the  elections,  Marius  went  to  Rome  to  hold 
them,  and  there  his  friend  the  tribune  L,  Apuleius  Saturni- 
nus,  as  had  been  arranged  between  them,  proposed  him  for 
consul  a  fourth  time.  Marius  affected  to  decline  the  honor; 
Saturninus  called  him  a  traitor  to  his  country  if  he  refused 
to  serve  her  in  the  time  of  her  peril ;  the  scene  was  well 
acted  between  them,  and  Marius  was  made  consul  with  Q,. 
Lutatius  Catulus,  (650.) 

The  province  of  Gaul  was  decreed  to  both  the  consuls ; 
and  as  the  barbarians  were  now  returned  from  Spain  and 
had  divided  their  forces,  the  Cimbrians  moving  to   enter 


322'  HISTORY  OF    ROME. 

Italy  on  the  north-east,  the  Teutones  and  Ambrones  from 
Gaul,  Marius  crossed  the  Alps,  and  fortified  a  strong  camp  on 
Uie  banks  of  the  Rhone,  that  he  might  raise  the  spirit  of  his 
men,  and  accustom  them  to  the  sight  of  the  huge  bodies  and 
ferocious  mien  of  the  barbarians.  He  refused  all  their  chal- 
lenges to  fight,  and  contented  himself  with  repelling  their 
assaults  on  his  camp  ;  and  at  last  the  barbarians,  giving  up  all 
hopes  of  forcing  him  to  action,  resolved  to  cross  the  Alps, 
leaving  him  behind  them.  We  are  told  that  they  spent  six 
days  in  marching  by  the  Roman  camp,  and  that  as  they  went 
they  jeeringly  asked  the  soldiers  if  they  had  any  messages  to 
send  to  their  wives.  Marius  then  broke  up  his  camp,  and  fol- 
lowed them,  keeping  on  the  high  grounds  till  he  came  to  Aquae 
SextiaB.  He  here  chose  for  his  camp  an  eminence  where 
there  was  no  water,  and  when  his  soldiers  complained  he 
pointed  to  a  stream  running  by  the  enemies'  camp,  and  told 
them  they  must  buy  it  there  with  their  blood.  **  Lead  us  on 
then  at  once  while  our  blood  is  warm  !"  cried  they.  "We 
must  first  secure  our  camp,"  coolly  replied  the  general. 

The  camp  servants,  taking  with  them  axes,  hatchets,  and 
some  spears  and  swords  for  their  defence,  went  down  to 
the  stream  to  water  the  beasts,  and  they  drove  off  such  of 
the  enemies  as  they  met.  The  noise  roused  the  Ambrones, 
who,  though  they  were  full  after  a  meal,  put  on  their  armor 
and  crossed  the  stream ;  the  Ligurians  advanced  to  engage 
them,  some  more  Roman  troops  succeeded,  and  the  Am- 
brones were  driven  back  to  their  wagons  with  loss.  This 
check  irritated  the  barbarians  exceedingly,  and  the  Romans 
passed  the  night  in  anxiety,  expecting  an  attack.  In  the 
morning  Marius,  having  sent  Claudius  Marcellus  with  3000 
men  to  occupy  a  woody  hill  in  the  enemy's  rear,  prepared 
to  give  battle.  The  impatient  barbarians  charged  up-hill ; 
the  Romans,  with  the  advantage  of  the  ground,  drove  them 
back,  Marcellus  fell  on  their  rear,  and  the  rout  was  soon 
complete:  the  slain  and  the  captives  were,  it  is  said,  not  less 
than  100,000.  As  Marius  after  the  battle  stood  with  a 
torch,  in  the  act  of  setting  fire  to  a  pile  of  their  arms,  mes- 
sengers arrived  with  tidings  of  his  being  chosen  consul  for 
the  fifth  time. 

Catulus,  meantime,  had  not  been  equally  fortunate  :  not 
thinking  it  safe  to  divide  his  forces  for  defending  the  passes 
of  the  Alps,  he  retired  behind  the  Atesis,  (Adige,)  securing 
the  fords,  and  having  a  bridge  in  front  of  his  position  to 
communicate  with  the  country  on  the  other  side.     But  when 


VICTORY   OF    VERCELLiE.  323 

the  Cimbrians  poured  down  from  the  Alps,  and  were  be- 
ginning to  fill  up  the  bed  of  the  river,  his  soldiers  grew 
alarmed,  and,  unable  to  retain  them,  he  led  them  back, 
abandoning  the  plain  of  the  Po  to  the  barbarians.  Catulus 
was  continued  in  his  command  as  proconsul  the  next  year, 
(651  :)  his  deficiency  of  military  talent  was  made  up  for  by 
the  ability  of  L.  Sulla,  who  had  left  Marius  to  join  him. 
Marius,  who  was  at  Rome,  instead  of  triumphing  as  was 
expected,  summoned  his  troops  from  Gaul,  and  proceeded  to 
unite  them  with  those  of  Catulus,  hoping  to  have  the  glory 
of  a  second  victory  ;  and  when  the  battle  took  place  in  the 
neighborhood  of  Vercellae,  he  placed  his  own  troops  on  the 
wings,  and  those  of  Catulus  in  the  centre,  which  he  threw 
back  in  order  that  they  might  have  as  little  share  as  possible 
in  the  action.  But  his  manoeuvre  was  a  failure,  for  an  im- 
mense cloud  of  dust  rising,  which  prevented  the  troops  from 
seeing  each  other,  Marius  in  his  charge  left  the  enemy  at 
one  side,  and  the  brunt  of  the  battle  fell  on  the  troops  of 
Catulus.  The  dust  was  of  advantage  to  the  Romans,  as  it 
prevented  their  seeing  the  number  of  their  foes  :  the  heat  of 
the  weather,  (it  being  now  July,)  exhausted  the  barbarians, 
and  they  were  obliged  to  give  way,  and  as  their  front  ranks 
had  bound  themselves  together  by  chains  from  their  waists, 
they  could  not  escape.  A  dreadful  spectacle  presented 
itself  when  the  Romans  drove  them  to  their  line  of  wagons  ; 
the  women  rushed  out,  fell  on  the  fugitives,  and  then  slew 
themselves  and  their  children  ;  the  men  too  put  an  end  to 
themselves  in  various  ways  :  the  captives  amounted  to  60,000, 
the  slain  to  double  the  number.  Marius  and  Catulus  tri- 
umphed together,  and  though  the  former  had  had  little  share 
in  the  victory,  his  rank,  and  the  fame  of  his  former  one,_ 
caused  this  also  to  be  ascribed  to  him  ;  the  multitude  called 
him  the  third  founder  of  Rome,  and  poured  out  libations  to 
him  with  the  gods  at  their  meals.  He  would  have  triumphed 
alone  but  for  fear  of  Catulus'  soldiers ;  and,  as  we  shall  see, 
he  never  forgave  him  his  victory.* 

One  evil  of  great  magnitude  which  resulted  from  this  war 
was,  the  great  number  of  slaves  that  it  dispersed  over  the 
Roman  dominions;  and  at  this  very  time  those  of  Sicily 
were  again  in  insurrection.     Under  the  guidance  of  a  slave, 

**  The  details  of  the  battle  are  only  to  be  found  in  Plutarch,  (Marius,) 
whose  authority  were  Sulla's  own  Memoirs,  and  therefore  must  be 
received  with  some  suspicion. 


named  Salvias,  #li6  assumed  the  name  of  Trypho  ^n^  tftc 
royal  dignity,  they  defeated  the  Roman  6fficers,  In  anothet 
part  of  the  island  the  slaves  made  one  Athenio,  a  Cilician, 
their  king,  but  he  submitted  to  Trypho,  after  whose  death 
he  had  the  supreme  command.  At  length  (651)  the  consul 
M.  Aquilius  slew  Athenio  with  his  own  hAhd  in  an  engage- 
ment, and  suppressed  the  rebellion. 


■f.  CHAPTER    HI.* 

STATE  OP  ROME. TRIBUNATE   OP   SATURNINUS. HIS    SEDI- 
TION AND  DEATH.  -^  RETURN  OF  METELLUS.  —  TRIBUNATE 

AND     DEATH     OF     DRUSUS. SOCIAL    OR    MARSIC     WAR. 

MURDER  OF  THE  PRJSTOR  BY  THE  USURERS. SEDITION  OF 

MARIUS    AND    SULPICIUS. SULLA    AT    ROME.  —  FLIGHT    OF 

MARIUS.         •  , 

The  cruelty  with  which  the  nobility  had  used  their  victory 
over  the  Gracchi,  and  the  scandalous  corruption  and  profli- 
gacy which  they  had  exhibited  in  the  case  of  Jugurtha,  had 
greatly  exasperated-,  the  people  against  them,  and  alienated 
from  them  the  affections  of  the  lovers  of  justice  and  honor. 
Ambitious  and  revengeful  men  took  advantage  of  this  state 
of  feeling  to  have  themselves  made  tribunes,  and  to  have 
measures  passed  injurious  to  the  nobles  as  a  body,  or  as 
individuals.  Caepio,  who  had  attempted  to  modify  Gracchus' 
law,  which  deprived  the  senators  of  the  right  of  being  judges, 
was,  after  his  defeat  by  the  Cimbrians,  deprived  of  his  com- 
hiand,  and  his  estate  was  confiscated,  and  the  following  year, 
(648,)  the  tribune  C.  Cassius  Longinus  had  a  bill  passed, 
(levelled  at  him,)  prohibiting  any  one  who  had  been  deposed 
by  the  people  from  sitting  in  the  senate.  He  was  some  years 
after  prosecuted  for  the  plunder  of  the  gold  of  Tolosa,  and 
he  ended  his  days  in  exile.  Cassius'  colleague,  Cn.  Domiiius 
Ahenobarbus,  deprived  the  pontiffs  of  the  right  of  choosing 
their  own  colleagues,  and  gave  it  to  the  people ;  and  another 

*  Appiah,  B.  C.  i.  23-Mte.  Velleius,  11. 13—17.  Plat.,  Marius  and 
Sulla. 


TRIBUNATE    OF    SATURNINUS.  325 

of  the  tribunes,  C.  Servilius  Glaucia,  offered  the  freedom  of 
the  city  to  any  of  the  Latins  or  the  allies  who  should  prose- 
cute a  magistrate  to  conviction. 

These,  however,  were  but  preludes  to  what  was  to  follow. 
Marius  was  raised  a  sixth  time  to  the  consulate,  (652,)  and 
it  is  said  that  he  employed  both  money  and  arts  to  prevent 
Metellus  from  being  his  colleague,  and  to  have  L.  Valerius 
iFlaccus,  on  whom  he  could  rely,  appointed.  His  allies  were 
Glaucia  and  Saturninus,  both  mortal  enemies  to  Metellus, 
who,  but  for  his  colleague,  would,  in  his  censorship^  have 
degraded  them  for  their  scandalous  lives.  Glaucia  as  jprsetor 
presided  when  Saturninus  stood  a  second  time  for  the  tribu- 
nate. He  was  notwithstanding  rejected,  and  A.  Nonius,  a 
bitter  enemy  to  them  both,  elected;  but  when  he  left  the 
assembly,  they  sent  a  body  of  their  satellites  after  him,  who 
murdered  him ;  and  next  morning  Glaucia,  without  waiting 
for  the  people,  had  Saturninus  appointed  by  his  own  crew 
to  take  his  place,  no  one  venturing  even  to  murmur. 

A  series  of  measures  of  a  demagogic  nature  were  now 
introduced.  By  one  law  the  land  which  had  been  recovered 
from  the  Cimbrians  beyond  the  Po  was  to  be  treated  as 
conquered  land,  without  any  regard  to  the  rights  of  its  Gallic 
owners,  and  divided  among  Roman  citizens  and  soldiers ; 
100  jugers  apiece  were  to  be  given  to  the  veterans  in 
Africa ;  *  colonies  were  to  be  led  to  Sicily,  Achaia,  and 
Macedonia ;  t  the  Tolosan  gold  was  to  be  employed  in  the 
purchase  of  lands  to  be  divided.  By  another  law,  corn  was 
to  be  sold  to  the  people  at  a  reduced  rate.  J  It  was  added 
to  the  law  for  dividing  the  Gallic  land,  that  in  case  of  its 
passing,  the  senate  must,  within  five  days,  swear  to  it,  and 
that  any  one  who  refused  should  be  expelled  the  senate,  and 
fined  500,000  sesterces. 

The  laws  relating  to  the  diviision  of  the  lands  were  not  at 
all  pleasing  to  the  town  population,  who  saw  that  the  ad- 
vantages would  fall  mostly  to  the  Italians.  The  movers, 
therefore,  took  care  to  bring  in  from  the  country  large  num- 
bers of  those  who  had  served  under  Marius,  to  overawe  and 
outvote  the  people  of  the  city.  These  last  cried  out  that  it 
thundered  ;  Saturninus  took  no  heed,  but  urged  on  his  law : 

*  Aur.  Victor.  t  Cic.  Balbus,  21. 

t  At  the  semis  et  triens.     (See  p.  301.)     Auctor  ad  Herenn.  i.  12. 
Csepio,  who  was  now  qusBstor,  we  are  here  told,  when  he  could  not 
prevent  the  law  from  being  put  to  the  vote  in  any  other  way,  broke 
the  hustings-hridges,  {p&Mea,)  and  took  away  the  voting-urns. 
28 


326  mSTORT  OF  rome. 

they  then  girt  their  clothes  about  them,  seized  whatevef 
came  to  hand,  and  fell  on  the  country  folk,  who,  incited  by 
Saturninus,  attacked  them  in  turn,  drove  them  off,  and  then 
passed  the  law.  Marius,  as  consul,  laid  the  matter  before 
the  senate,  declaring  that  he  for  one  would  never  take  the 
oath.  Metellus,  for  whom  the  snare  was  laid,  made  a  similar 
declaration  ;  the  rest  expressed  their  approbation,  and  Marius 
closed  the  senate.  On  the  fifth  day  he  assembled  them  again 
in  haste,  telling  them  that  the  people  were  very  hot  on  the 
matter,  and  that  he  saw  no  remedy  but  for  them  to  swear  to 
it  as  far  as  it  was  law,  and  that  when  the  country  peoplfe 
were  gone  home  they  might  easily  show  that  it  was  not  law, 
as  it  had  been  carried  by  force,  and  when  there  was  thunder. 
He  himself  and  his  friends  then  swore  ;  the  rest,  though  they 
now  saw  through  the  trick,  were  afraid  not  to  do  the  same. 
Metellus  alone  refused.  Next  day  Saturninus  sent  and  had 
him  dragged  out  of  the  senate-house ;  when  the  other  tribunes 
defended  him,  Glaucia  and  Saturninus  ran  to  the  country 
people,  telling  them  they  had  no  chance  of  land  if  Metellus 
remained  in  Rome.  Saturninus  then  proposed  that  the 
consuls  should  be  directed  to  interdict  him  from  fire,  water, 
and  lodging.  The  town  people  armed  themselves,  and  were 
resolved  to  defend  him  ;  but  Metellus,  thanking  them  for 
their  zeal,  said  he  would  not  have  his  country  endangered 
on  his  account,  and  he  went  into  voluntary  exile  at  Rhodes. 
Saturninus  then  had  his  bill  against  him  passed,  and  Marius 
made  the  proclamation  with  no  little  pleasure. 

When  the  elections  came  on,  Saturninus  had  himself  re*- 
chosen,  and  with  him  one  L.  Equitius  Firmo,  whom  he  gave 
out  to  be  a  son  of  Tib.  Gracchus,  which  gained  him  the 
popular  favor.  But  his  great  object  was  to  get  Glaucia  into 
the  consulate,  which  was  a  matter  of  some  difliculty,  for  M. 
Antonius,  the  celebrated  orator,  had  been  already  chosen  for 
one  of  the  places,  and  C.  Memmius,  a  man  of  high  charac- 
ter and  extremely  popular,*  stood  for  the  other.  They  did 
not,  however,  let  this  difficulty  long  stand  in  their  way. 
They  sent  some  of  their  satellites,  armed  with  sticks,  who 
in  the  open  day,  in  the  midst  of  the  election,  and  before  all 
the  people,  fell  on  Memmius  and  beat  him  to  death !  The 
assembly  was  dissolved,  and  Saturninus,  next  morning,  hav- 
ing summoned  his  adherents  from  the  country,  occupied  the 
Capitol,  with  Glaucia,  the  quaestor  C.  Saufeius,  and  some 

•  See  above,  pp.  311, 313. 


RETURN    OF    METELLUS.  327 

Others.  The  senate,  having  met,  declared  them  public  ene* 
mies,  and  directed  the  consuls  to  provide  for  the  safety  of 
the  state.  Marius  had  then  reluctantly  to  take  arms  against 
his  friends.  While  he  loitered,  some  of  the  more  determined 
cut  the  pipes  which  supplied  the  Capitol  with  water.  When 
the  thirst  became  intolerable,  Saufeius  proposed  to  burn  the 
temple  ;  but  the  others,  relying  on  Marius,  agreed  to  surren- 
der on  the  public  faith.  There  was  a  general  cry  to  put  them 
to  death;  but  Marius,  in  order  to  save  them,  shut  them  up 
in  the  Curia  Hostilia,  under  pretext  of  acting  more  legally. 
The  people,  however,  would  not  be  balked  of  their  ven- 
geance ;  they  stripped  off  the  roof,  and  flung  the  tiles  down 
on  them  and  killed  them.  A  number  of  their  adherents  also 
were  slain,  among  them  the  pseudo-Gracchus. 

A  decree  for  the  recall  of  Metellus  was  joyfully  passed  by 
the  senate  and  people,  (653:)  Marius,  having  vainly  tried  to 
prevent  it,  left  the  city,  to  avoid  witnessing  the  return  of 
his  enemy.  He  went  to  Asia  Minor,  under  pretence  of 
offering  some  sacrifices  he  had  vowed  to  the  Mother  of  the 
Gods,  (Cybele,)  but  in  reality  to  try  if  he  could  excite  the 
king  of  Pontus  to  a  war,  for  peace  he  felt  not  to  be  his  ele- 
ment, and  his  conduct  since  his  triumph  had  lost  him  the 
favor  of  all  parties.  The  tribune  P.  Furius,  whom  Metel- 
lus had  degraded  when  censor,  (650,)  also  opposed  his  recall, 
and  stood  firm  against  the  tears  and  entreaties  of  his  son. 
His  filial  piety  gained  for  the  youth  the  surname  of  Pius, 
{dutiful,)  and  Furius  being  prosecuted  the  next  year  by  his 
late  colleague,  C.  Canuleius,  was  torn  to  pieces  by  the  people, 
who  would  not  even  listen  to  his  defence.  When  Metellus 
arrived  at  Rome  the  concourse  of  those  who  came  to  con- 
gratulate him  was  so  great  that  an  entire  day  did  not  suffice 
for  him  to  receive  them. 

Matters  now  remained  rather  tranquil  for  a  few  years.  In 
661  the  tribune  M.  Livius  Drusus,  the  son  of  the  opponent 
of  C.  Gracchus,  a  young  man  of  many  estimable  qualities 
but  of  great  pride,  brought  forward  a  series  of  measures  by 
which  he  proposed  to  remedy  the  evils  of  the  state,  and  re- 
store the  authority  of  the  senate.  In  the  first  place  the 
knights  had  not  exercised  the  exclusive  right  of  acting  as 
judges,  given  to  them  by  the  Sempronian  law,  one  whit  more 
impartially  than  the  senators  had  done.  Of  this  the  late 
condemnation  of  P.  Rutilius  had  been  a  glaring  instance. 
Rutilius,  one  of  the  most  upright  and  honorable  men  of  his 
time,  had  been  both  quaesftor  and  legate  in  Asia,  and  he  had 


328  HISTORY    OF    ROME.  . 

exerted  himself  in  defending  the  proYincials  against  the 
abominable  oppressions  and  extortions  of  the  publipans. 
This  drew  on  him  the  hatred  of  the  whole  equestrian  ot- 
der,  a  charge  of  extortion  was  got  up  against  him;  the 
judges  joyfully  found  him  guilty ;  and  he  had  to  go  into 
exile,  Drusus  now  brought  in  a  bill,  by  which,  as  the  sena- 
tors amounted  to  three  hundred,  an  equal  number  should  be 
selected  from  the  equestrian  order,  and  the  deouries  of  judges 
be  taken  out  of  these  six  hundred,  and  he  added  that  they 
should  take  cognizance  of  cases  of  bribery  and  corruption. 
This  just  and  well-meant  measure  gave  satisfaction  to  no 
party.  The  senate  saw  in  it  a  loss  of  dignity,  and  they 
dreaded  the  influence  their  new  associates  might  acquire. 
The  knights  in  general  viewed  it  only  as  a  plan  for  gradually 
withdrawing  from  them  the  judicial  power  which  they  had 
found  so  profitable,  and  they  were  prepared  to  be  envious 
and  jealous  of  the  three  hundred  of  their  own  body  who- 
might  be  selected.  Above  all,  they  were  offended  at  the 
bribery  clause,  as  they  had  thought  themselves  quite  secure 
of  impunity  on  that  head. 

To  gain  the  common  people  at  Rome,  Drusus  proposed 
that  the  colonies  in  Italy  and  Sicily,  which  had  been  long 
since  voted,  should  be  formed,  and  that  the  Sempronian  law 
for  the  distribution  of  corn  should  be  retained.  He  further, 
whether  it  was  what  he  had  originally  in  view,  or  annoyed  at 
finding  his  good  intentions  so  ill  received,*  resolved  to  give 
the  freedom  of  the  state  to  all  the  Italians.  He  carried  on 
his  measures  not  without  violence ;  and  one  evening  when 
he  returned  home  from  the  Forum,  followed  as  usual  by  a 
great  crowd,  and  was  in  his  hall  dismissing  them,  he  cried 
out  that  he  was  wounded.  A  shoemaker's  knife  was  found 
stuck  in  his  thigh,  but  the  assassin  was  not  discovered. 
"  Ah!  my  friends  and  relations,"  said  he,  as  he  lay  dying, 
**  will  the  republic  ever  have  a  citizen  such  as  I?"*  No  ju- 
dicial inquiry  was  instituted  into  this  murder,  and  all  the 
laws  of  Drusus  were  abrogated  by  a  single  senatusconsult, 
on  the  motion  of  the  consul  L.  Marcius  Philippus,  as  having 
been  contrary  to  the  auspices. 

The  knights  resolved  to  push  their  success  to  the  utter- 
most, and  to  deprive  the  allies  of  all  hopes  of  the  civic 
franchise.  They  therefore  made  the  tribune  Q,.  Varius,  a 
Spaniard  by  birth,  bring  in  a  bill  to  punish  all  those  who 

*  Veil.  Pat.  ii.  14. 


SOCIAL    OR   MARSIC   WAR.  329 

had  openly  or  secretly  aided  the  Italians  in  their  designs 
against  the  state;  for,  as  many  of  the  leading  senators  had 
favored  their  claims,  they  intended  in  this  way  to  drive 
them  from  the  city.  The  other  tribunes  interposed ;  but  the 
knights  stood  around  them  brandishing  their  naked  daggers, 
and  the  bill  was  passed;  and  prosecutions  were  instantly 
commenced  against  the  leading  senators.  Many  were  con- 
demned :  others,  such  as  Bestia  and  Cotta,  went  into  volun- 
tary exile.  M.  JEmilius  Scaurus,  the  chief  of  the  senate, 
being  accused  by  Varius  before  the  people,  made  the  follow- 
ing defence  ;  "  Varius  of  Sucro  says  that  iEmilius  Scaurus 
has  excited  the  allies  to  take  up  arms.  M.  Scaurus,  the 
chief  of  the  senate,  denies  it.  TJ^ere  is  no  witness.  Which, 
Q,uirites,  should  you  believe?"  The  tribune  did  not  attempt 
to  go  on  with  the  prosecution.* 

The  allies  meantime,  seeing  that  they  had  nothing  now  to 
expect  from  the  justice  of  Rome,  had  resolved  on  an  appeal 
to  arms,  and  began  secretly  to  make  the  requisite  combina- 
tions among  themselves.  The  Romans,  aware  of  what  they 
were  meditating,  sent  spies  to  the  different  towns ;  and  one 
of  these,  seeing  a  youth  led  as  a  hostage  from  the  town  of 
Asculum  to  another  town,  gave  information  to  the  proconsul 
d.  Servilius,  who  hastened  thither  and  sharply  rebuked  the 
Asculans  for  what  they  were  doing ;  but  they  fell  on  and 
slew  him  and  his  legate  Fonteius,  and  then  massacred  all  the 
Romans  in  the  place  and  pillaged  their  houses.  Before, 
however,  the  confederates  commenced  the  war,  they  sent  to 
Rome  requiring  to  be  admitted  to  a  participation  in  the  hon- 
ors and  advantages  of  that  state,  to  whose  greatness  they 
had  so  mainly  contributed.  The  senate  replied  that  if  they 
repented  of  what  they  had  done  they  might  send  a  deputa- 
tion, otherwise  not.  The  confederates  then  resolved  to  try 
the  chance  of  arms  :  their  army,  formed  from  the  contin- 
gents of  their  several  states,  amounted  to  one  hundred  thou- 
sand men,  exclusive  of  the  domestic  forces  of  each  state. 

All  the  peoples  of  the  Sabellian  race,  except  the  Sabines 
and  Hernicans,  who  had  long  since  become  Roman  citizens, 
shared  in  the  war  which  now  broke  out ;  in  which  Rome 
had  to  struggle  for  her  existence  with  enemies  whose  troops 
equalled  her  own  in  number,  discipline,  and  valor,  and  who 
had  generals  as  skilful  as  those  she  could  oppose  to  them. 
The  allies  chose  Corfinium,  the  chief  town  of  the  Peligni- 

*  Asconius  on  Gicero  pro  Scauro.  Quintil.  v.  12.  Curious  enough, 
Varius  himself  was  condemned  on  his  own  law.    (Asconius  as  above.) 

28*  pp 


330  '  HiSTORY    OF    ROME. 

ans,  for  their  capital,  under  the  name  of  Italia;  they  ap- 
pointed a  senate  of  five  hundred  members,  two  consuls,  and 
twelve  praetors.  The  first  consuls  were  Q.  Pompajdius  Silo, 
a  Marsian,  and  C.  Papius  Mutilus,  a  Samnite  ;  the  former 
with  six  praetors  had  the  command  of  the  north  and  west; 
the  latter  with  six  praetors  also  commanded  in  the  south  and 
east.  Among  the  praetors  were  the  following,  T,  Lafrenius, 
C.  Pontidius,  Marius  Egnatius,  M,  Lamponius,  C.  Judaci- 
lius,  Vettius  Scato,  Pontius  Telesinus,  L.  Cluentius,  and  P. 
Ventidius.  The  war  is  named  the  Social,  Marsic,  or  Italian 
war,  from  the  names  of  those  engaged  in  it. 

The  Roman  senate  made  diligent  preparations  to  meet  the 
coming  danger;  the  Latins,  Tuscans,  Umbrians  and  the 
people  of  some  other  pajts  of  Italy  remained  faithful,  and 
troops  came  from  Gaul  and  from  the  foreign  allies.  The 
chief  command  of  the  forces,  which  equalled  those  of  the 
Italians  in  number,  was  given  to  the  consuls  L.  Julius  Caesar 
and  P.  Rutilius  Lupus;  the  former  had  as  legates  his  brother 
P.  Lentulus,  L.  Sulla,  T.  Didius,  M.  Marcellus  and  M.  Li- 
cinius  Crassus;  the  legates  of  the  other  consul  were  C. 
Marius,  Cn.  Pompeius  Strabo,  d.  Servilius  Caepio,  C.  Per- 
perna  and  Valerius  Messala. 

The  advantages  were  at  first  all  on  the  side  of  the  Italians. 
Vettius  Scato  defeated  the  consul  Julius,  and  took  the  town 
of  iEsemia  in  Samnium.  Marius  Egnatius  took  Venafrum 
by  treachery,  and  destroyed  two  Roman  cohorts  that  were 
in  it.  P.  Presenlaeus  defeated  a  force  of  10,000  men  under 
the  legate  Perperna,  and  killed  4000  of  them  ;  for  which 
Rutilius  deprived  Perperna  of  his  command,  and  gave  what 
remained  of  his  troops  to  C.  Marius.  Lamponius  defeated 
Crassus  with  a  loss  of  eight  hundred  men,  and  forced  him 
to  shut  himself  up  in  Grumentum.  Papius  entered  Cam- 
pania and  took  Nola,  Stabiae,  Minturnae,  and  Salurnum ;  the 
troops  in  all  these  places  entered  his  service,  and  when  he 
laid  waste  the  country  round  Nuceria  the  neighboring  towns 
all  declared  for  him  and  augmented  his  forces  with  10,000 
foot  and  1000  horse.  He  then  laid  siege  to  Acerrae,  to 
whose  relief  the  consul  Julius  came  with  10,000  Gallic  foot 
and  a  body  of  Moorish  and  Numidian  troops  ;  but  Papius, 
sending  to  Venusia  for  a  son  of  Jugurtha's  who  was  a  pris- 
oner there,  clad  him  in  purple,  and  showed  him  to  the  Nu- 
midians,  a  great  number  of  whom  deserted ;  and  Caesar 
became  so  dubious  of  the  r<est  that  he  sent  them  away  home. 
When,  however,  Papius  made  an  attempt  on  his  camp,  he 
was  repelled  with  the  loss  of  6000  men. 


SOCIAL    OR   MARSIC    WAR.  331 

Rutilius  and  Mariiis  advanced  to  the  Liris,  over  which 
they  threw  two  bridges  within  a  short  distance  of  each  other. 
Vettius  Scato,  who  was  encamped  opposite  that  of  Marius, 
went  and  lay  in  ambush  during  the  night  at  that  of  Rutilius; 
and  when  the  Romans  crossed  in  the  morning  he  drove  them 
back  with  great  loss,  Rutilius  receiving  a  wound  in  the  head, 
of  which  he  afterwards  died.  But  meantime  Marius  had 
crossed  over  and  taken  Vettius'  camp,  which  obliged  him  to 
retreat.  When  the  bodies  of  the  consul  and  other  men  of 
rank  were  brought  to  Rome  for  interment,  the  sight  was  so 
dispiriting  that  the  senate  made  a  decree  that  in  future  all 
who  fell  should  be  buried  on  the  spot ;  the  Italians  when  they 
heard  of  it  made  a  similar  decree. 

Marius  and  Caepio  were  directed  to  take  the  command  of 
Rutilius'  army,  as  no  consul  could  now  be  elected  in  his 
place.  Pompsedius  then  pretended  to  desert  to  Caepio,  and 
urging  him  to  advance  and  fall  on  his  troops,  now  without  a 
leader,  led  him  into  an  ambush,  where  he  and  most  of  his 
men  were  slain.  At  the  same  time,  as  CjBsar  was  leading 
his  army,  said  to  be  30,000  foot  and  5000  horse,  through  a 
defile,  he  was  fallen  on  and  routed  by  Egnatius.  He  escaped 
with  difficulty  to  Teanum,  where  having  reassembled  his 
troops  he  went  and  encamped  over  against  Papias,  who  was 
still  before  Acerrae. 

The  Marsians  having  attacked  Marius  were  driven  back 
into  some  vineyards,  whither  he  did  not  venture  to  pursue 
them ;  but  Sulla,  who  was  encamped  behind  the  vineyards, 
when  he  heard  the  noise  fell  on  the  fugitives,  and  the  entire 
loss  of  the  Marsians  was  six  thousand  men.  This,  however, 
only  exasperated  that  gallant  people,  and  they  soon  took  the 
field  again.  On  the  side  of  Falernum,  Judacilius,  Lafrenius, 
and  Ventidius,  having  united  their  forces,  drove  Pompeius 
into  Firmum,  where,  leaving  Lafrenius  to  watch  him,  the 
others  went  away.  But  P.  Sulpicius  came  to  his  relief,  and 
while  the  besieged  made  a  sally  he  fell  on  the  camp  of  the 
besiegers  and  set  it  on  fire.  The  Italians  were  defeated  and 
their  general  slain. 

In  this  war  the  conduct  of  Marius  was  little  worthy  of  his 
former  fame;  whether  in  consequence  of  his  age,  (he  was 
now  sixty-five,)  or  of  a  nervous  disorder  as  he  himself  said, 
he  acted  with  timidity  and  irresolution,  shutting  himself  up 
in  an  entrenched  camp,  and  allowing  the  enemy  to  insult 
him,  and  finally  resigning  his  command. 

The  first  year  of  the  war  was  now  drawing  to  a  close ;  the 


339  mSTOBY   OF    HOME. 

senate  had  been  obliged  to  allow  the  freedmen  to  be  enlisted 
for  the  legions,  and  the  Tuscans  and  Umbrians  showed 
strong  symptoms  of  an  inclination  to  share  in  the  revolt. 
The  opponents  to  the  claims  of  the  allies  were  forced  to 
yield,  and  the  consul  Julius  had  a  law  passed  granting  the 
civic  franchise  to  the  Latins  and  those  \jvho  had  not  revolted, 
and  finally  to  those  who  should  lay  down  their  arms.  This 
prudent  measure  at  once  quieted  the  Tuscans. 
.  The  consuls  of  the  next  year  (663)  were  Cn.  Pompeius 
and  M.  Porcius  Cato.  The  former  defeated  a  body  of  15,000 
Italians  who  were  on  their  march  for  Etruria;  the  slain  were 
5000  in  number;  and  it  being  winter,  more  than  half  of 
those  who  escaped  perished  by  hunger  and  the  severity  of 
the  weather.  His  colleague  was  less  fortunate,  for  about  the 
same  time,  having  gained  some  advantages  over  the  Marsians, 
he  made  an  attack  on  their  camp,  but  was  defeated  and 
slain.  Pompeius  laid  siege  to  Asculum;  the  praitor  Cbs- 
conius  was  defeated  by  the  Saranites,  but  being  joined  by 
the  praetor  Lucceius  he  again  engaged,  and  routed  them 
with  a  loss  of  15,000  men  and  their  general  Mariiis  Eg- 
natius. 

Sulla  defeated  the  Italian  general  Cluentius  at  Pomj^eii 
in  Campania.  He  then  entered  Samnium,  and  took  the 
town  of  iEculanum.  He  defeated  Papius  near  iEsernia,  and 
then  took  Bovianum. 

Pompeius  meantime  urged  on  the  siege  of  Asculum.  Ju- 
dacilius,  who  was  a  native  of  that  town,  advanced  with 
eight  cohorts  to  its  relief,  sending  word  to  the  people  to 
make  a  sally  when  they  saw  him.  This  however  they  did 
not  do  ;  he  forced  his  way  in,  nevertheless,  and  seeing  there 
was  no  chance  of  his  being  able  to  maintain  the  town,  he 
resolved  not  to  let  those  escape  who  had  turned  the  people 
against  him.  He  seized  and  put  them  to  death,  and  then 
raised  a  pyre  in  a  temple  on  which  he  placed  a  couch,  and 
having  feasted  with  his  friends  and  swallowed  poison,  he  lay 
down,  directing  them  to  set  fire  to  it,  and  he  thus  perished. 

Fortune  was  now  every  where  adverse  to  the  allies ;  one  by 
one  they  had  lost  their  best  generals ;  the  spirit  of  resistance 
gradually  died  away ;  and  they  all,  but  the  Samnites  and 
Lucanians,  submitted  and  received  the  Roman  franchise; 
and  thus,  after  two  years,  ended  the  Social  war,  which  had 
cost  Italy  the  loss  of  three  hundred  thousand  of  the  flower 
of  her  population,  in  the  concessions  that  might  have  ob-  1 
viated  it.    To  prevent  the  allies  from  acquiring  a  prepon-  I 


MURDER   OF    THE    PRJ:T0R   BY   THE    USURERS.      333 

derance  by  their  numbers  in  the  Comitia,  the  senate,  instead 
of  distributing  them  in  the  actual  tribes,  formed,  as  was  the 
ancient  practice,  eight  new  tribes  to  contain  them  ;  a  meas- 
ure which,  though  not  noticed  at  the  time,  gave  rise  to 
future  dissensions. 

Daring  the  Social  war  an  event  occurred  at  Rome  which 
strongly  shows  the  disregard  for  law,  both  human  and  di- 
vine, which  then  prevailed.  The  money-lenders  were  press- 
ing hard  on  their  debtors,  and,  contrary  to  law,  insisting  upon 
interest  on  interest.  The  praetor  A.  Sempronius  Asellio,  in 
the  trials  which  took  place,  reminded  the  jurors  of  the  law 
on  the  subject ;  and  this  so  incensed  the  usurers,  that  they 
resolved  to  fall  on  him  as  he  was  sacrificing  to  Castor  and 
Pollux  in  the  Forum.  A  stone  was  thrown  which  struck  the 
cup  out  of  his  hand;  he  fled  for  refuge  to  the  temple  of 
Vesta,  which  was  hard  by,  but  the  usurers  got  between  him 
and  it ;  he  then  ran  into  a  tavern,  whither  they  pursued  and 
killed  him.  Some  even  went  into  the  temple,  which  it  was 
not  lawful  to  enter,  thinking  he  had  fled  to  the  Vestals, 
and  resolved  that  even  so  he  should  not  escape.  The  senate 
offered  a  reward  in  money  to  any  freeman,  liberty  to  any 
slave,  and  a  pardon  to  any  accomplice,  who  would  give  in- 
formation against  the  murderers ;  but  the  usurers  had  dis- 
guised themselves  so  that  they  could  not  be  identified,  or 
perhaps  people  were  too  much  in  terror  of  them  to  give  in- 
formation. 

The  merits  of  ^ulla  in  the  Social  war  had  been  so  great 
that  he  was  raised  immediately  to  the  consulate  (664)  with 
Q,.  Pompeius  Rufus,  and  the  conduct  of  the  war  against 
Mithridates  king  of  Pontus  was  committed  to  him.  But  the 
envy  and  the  cupidity  of  Marius  were  excited,  and  he  re- 
solved if  possible  to  deprive  him  of  his  command.  He 
leagued  himself  for  this  purpose  with  P.  Sulpicius  Rufus,  a 
tribune  of  the  people,  a  man  of  talent  and  a  daring  character, 
and  they  projected  a  law  for  transferring  the  command  to 
Marius.  For  this  purpose  it  was  necessary  to  get  a  majority 
in  the  tribes;  and  as  this  could  not  be  effected  as  they  were 
then  constituted,  Sulpicius  brought  in  a  bill  for  distrib- 
uting the  new  citizens  among  all  the  tribes;  for  as  they 
were  highly  discontented  with  their  present  position,  he 
reckoned  that  they  would  give  their  votes  to  those  who 
would  relieve  them  from  it.  But  the  old  citizens  were  not 
80  willing  to  part  with   their  monopoly;  they  employed 


334  BISTORT   OF   ROME, 

Sticks  and  stones  against  the  intruders.  The  consuls,  as  the 
day  of  voting  drew  near,  being  apprehensive  of  further  dis- 
turbance, proclaimed  a  Justitium.  Sulpicius  directed  his 
adherents  to  come  to  the  Forum  that  day  with  concealed 
daggers,  and  to  do  as  he  should  direct  them.  When  there- 
fore all  was  ready,  he  called  on  the  consuls  to  dissolve  the 
justitium  as  being  illegal.  A  tumult  ensued,  the  daggers 
were  drawn  and  brandished,  and  the  consuls  menaced. 
Pompeius  fled  ;  Sulla  retired  to  consult  the  senate  ;  and 
while  he  was  away  the  Sulpician  party  fell  on  and  murdered 
Pompeius'  son,  for  freely  speaking  his  mind.  Sulla  then 
dissolved  the  justitium^  and  set  out  for  his  army,  which  was 
at  Nola:  Sulpicius  had  his  bill  passed  forthwith,  and  the 
Mithridatic  war  decreed  to  Marius. 

Sulla  having  assembled  his  troops  told  them  all  that  had 
occurred  at  Rome,  and  as  their  hopes  of  plunder  in  the 
East  were  high,  and  they  feared  that  Marius  would  have 
other  troops  and  other  officers,  they  called  on  him  to  lead 
them  at  once  to  Rome.  He  gladly  obeyed,  and  set  forth  at 
the  head  of  six  legions.  The  soldiers  stoned  the  tribunes 
whom  Marius  sent  to  take  the  command;  the  senate,  com- 
pelled by  Marius,  sent  two  praetors  to  prohibit  the  advance 
of  Sulla,  but  they  narrowly  escaped  with  their  lives  from 
the  soldiery.  Other  embassies  followed,  praying  Sulla  not 
to  come  nearer  than  where  he  was,  at  the  fifth  milestone, 
Marius  wishing  to  get  time  to  prepare  for  defence.  SuUa 
seeing  through  the  design  gave  the  promise;  but  he  fol- 
lowed close  on  the  heels  of  the  envoys,  and  he  himself 
with  one  legion  seized  the  CsBlian  gate,  while  Pompeius 
with  another  seized  the  Colline ;  a  third  went  to  the  bridge, 
a  fourth  staid  without,  and  Sulla  led  the  remaining  two 
into  the  city.  The  people  began  to  throw  missiles  and  tiles 
on  them  from  the  roofs ;  but  when  Sulla  threatened  to  set 
fire  to  the  houses,  they  desisted.  Marius  and  his  party  gave 
them  battle  at  the  Esquiline,  but  they  were  defeated,  and 
Marius  and  Sulpicius  having  vainly  essayed  to  excite  the 
slaves  fled  out  of  the  city. 

Sulla  next  day  assembled  the  people,  and  having  deplored 
the  condition  into  which  the  constitution  had  been  brought 
by  the  arts  and  the  violence  of  wicked  men,  proposed,  as 
the  only  remedy,  a  return  to  the  former  wholesome  state 
of  things;  that  no  measure  should  be  brought  before  the 
people  that  had  not  been  examined  and  approved  of  by  the 


FLIGHT    OF    MARIUS.  335 

senate;  and  that  the  voting  should  be  by  the  classes,  as  ar- 
ranged by  king  Servius,  and  not  by  the  tribes.  He  then,  as 
the  senate  was  so  much  reduced,  selected  three  hundred 
of  the  most  respectable  men  to  augment  it.  All  the  late 
measures  of  Sulpicius  were  declared  illegal,  and  he,  Marius 
and  his  son,  and  about  twelve  other  senators,  were  outlawed, 
and  their  property  confiscated. 

Sulpicius  was  betrayed  by  a  slave  and  put  to  death. 
Marius  escaped  in  the  night  to  Ostia,  where  one  of  his 
friends  had  provided  a  vessel  for  him ;  he  embarked,  but  a 
storm  coming  on  he  was  obliged  to  land  near  Gircaeum, 
where,  as  he  and  his  companions  were  rambling  about,  some 
herdsmen  who  knew  him  telling  him  that  a  party  of  horse 
had  just  been  seen  in  quest  of  him,  they  got  into  a  wood, 
where  they  passed  the  night  without  food.  Next  morning, 
they  set  out  for  Minturnse,  but  on  turning  round  they 
saw  a  troop  of  horsemen  in  pursuit  of  them.  There  hap- 
pened to  be  two  vessels  just  then  lying  close  in  to  the  shore, 
and  they  ran  and  got  aboard  of  them.  The  horsemen 
came  to  the  water's  edge,  and  called  out  to  the  crews  to 
put  Marius  out,  but  they  were  moved  by  his  entreaties, 
and,  refusing  to  deliver  him  up,  sailed  away  ;  but  afterwards, 
reflecting  on  the  danger  they  were  running,  they  persuaded 
him  to  land  at  the  mouth  of  the  Liris  to  get  some  food  and 
repose,  and,  while  he  was  lying  in  the  grass,  they  went  on 
board,  and,  making  sail,  left  him  to  his  fate.  He  rambled 
about  the  marshes  till  he  reached  the  solitary  hut  of  an  old 
man,  whose  compassion  he  implored.  The  old  man  led 
him  away  into  the  marsh,  and  making  him  lie  down  in  a 
hollow  spot  near  the  river  covered  him  with  sedge  and 
rushes.  Presently  Marius  heard  at  the  hut  the  voices  of 
those  who  were  in  pursuit  of  him,  and  fearing  lest  his  host 
might  betray  him  he  got  up,  and  went  and  stood  up  to  his 
neck  in  the  mud  and  water  of  the  marsh.  Here,  however, 
he  was  soon  discovered,  and  was  dragged  out,  naked  as  he 
was,  and  led  to  Minturnse  and  placed  in  confinement.  The 
authorities  there  having  consulted  together  resolved  to  put 
him  to  death,  and  a  Gallic  horseman  was  sent  to  despatch 
him.  The  Gaul,  when  he  approached  the  spot  where  he 
was  lying  in  a  dark  room,  was  daunted  by  the  fiery  glare  of 
the  old  warrior's  eyes,  and  when  he  rose  and  cried  with  a 
tremendous  voice,  "  Dost  thou  dare  to  slay  Gains  Marius  ?  " 
he  rushed  out,  crying,  "  I  cannot  kill  Caius  Marius."     The 


336  HISTORY   OF    ROM[E. 

magistrates  then  determined  not  to  have  the  blood  of  so 
great  a  man  on  their  heads,  and  they  gave  him  his  liberty, 
and  leading  him  to  the  coast  put  him  on  board  of  a  vessel 
to  pass  over  to  Africa.  He  landed  at  Carthage  ;  but  pres- 
ently came  a  messenger  from  C.  Sextilius,  the  governor  of 
the  province,  ordering  him  to  depart.  He  long  sat  in  si- 
lence, looking  sternly  at  the  envoy,  on  whose  inquiry  of 
what  reply  he  should  make  to  the  praetor,  he  groaned,  and 
said,  "Tell  him  you  saw  Caius  Marius  sitting  an  exile 
among  the  ruins  of  Carthage."  He  then  retired  to  the 
little  isle  of  Cercina,  where  he  was  joined  by  his  son  and 
several  of  his  other  friends,  and  they  remained  there  watch- 
ing the  course  of  events. 

Sulla  sent  back  his  army  to  Capua,  in  order  to  pass  over 
to  Greece;  his ' colleague  Q,.  Pompeius  was  to  remain  to 
protect  Italy  with  the  troops  of  Cn.  Pompeius;  but  this 
army,  probably  with  the  approbation  of  their  general,  fell 
on  and  murdered  the  consul  when  he  came  to  the  camp, 
and  Sulla  was  obliged  to  leave  the  command  with  Cn.  Pom- 
peius. He  moreover  found  that  the  people  were  adverse 
to  him,  for  they  rejected  his  nephew  Nonius  and  his  friend 
Servius  with  contempt  when  he  recommended  them  for 
office.  He  affected  to  be  pleased  at  seeing  the  people  ex- 
ercising the  liberty,  for  which  he  said  they  were  indebted  to 
him ;  and  he  acquiesced  in  the  appointment  of  L.  Cornelius 
Cinna,  of  the  opposite  faction,  to  the  consulate  with  Cn. 
Octavius,  who  was  of  his  own  party.  He  tried  to  bind 
Cinna,  by  the  solemnity  of  an  oath,  to  attempt  no  innova- 
tion in  his  absence.  They  ascended  the  Capitol,  and  Cinna, 
in  the  ancient  mode,  grasping  a  stone  prayed  that  if  he  did 
not  keep  his  engagement  he  might  be  cast  out  of  the  city 
as  he  flung  away  that  stone.  Sulla  then  departed  for  his 
army. 


STATE   OP   ASIA.  337 


CHAPTER  IV.* 

STATE     OF     ASIA. FIRST     MITHRIDATIC     WAR. — -SULLA     IN 

GREECE. VICTORIES  OF  CH^ERONEA  AND  ORCHOMENUS. 

PEACE     WITH    MITHRIDATES. FLACCUS    AND    FIMBRIA. 

SEDITION    OF    CINNA. RETURN    OF    MARIUS. CRUELTIES 

OF  MARIUS  AND  CINNA. DEATH  AND  CHARACTER  OF  MA- 
RIUS. ^ RETURN  OF  SULLA. HIS  VICTORIES. PROSCRIP- 
TIONS    OF    SULLA. His    DICTATORSHIP    AND     LAWS. HE 

LAYS  DOWN  HIS  OFFICE  AND  RETIRES.  —  HIS  DEATH  AND 
FUNERAL. HIS    CHARACTER. 

The  acquisition  of  the  kingdom  of  Attains  caused  the 
Romans  to  become  deeply  interested  in  the  affairs  of  the 
East.  We  will  therefore  now  take  a  slight  view  of  the  polit- 
ical condition  of  Anterior  Asia  at  this  time. 

After  the  reign  of  Antiochus  the  Great  the  kingdom  of 
Syria  had  gone  rapidly  to  decay.  The  dominions  east  of  the 
Euphrates  were  gradually  occupied  by  the  Parthians,  a 
people  probably  of  Turkish  race,  and  their  empire  finally  ex- 
tended over  the  whole  of  Persia ;  their  princes  were  named 
Arsacides,  from  Arsaces,  the  first  of  their  line.  Another 
portion  of  the  Syrian  dominions  was  about  this  time  seized 
on  by  Tigranes  king  of  Armenia,  who  became  one  of  the 
most  powerful  monarchs  of  Asia.  The  kings  of  Bithynia 
and  Cappadocia  were  dependent  on  the  Romans ;  but  the 
kingdom  of  Pontus  on  the  Euxine,  under  its  present  monarch 
Mithridates  VI.,  a  prince  of  great  activity  and  talent,  had 
risen  to  considerable  importance.  It  was  against  this  mon- 
arch that  Sulla  was  now  to  direct  the  arms  of  Rome,  with 
whom  the  war  had  originated  as  follows. 

Mithridates,  having,  it  is  said,  caused  the  king  of  Cappa- 
docia, who  was  married  to  his  sister,  to  be  murdered,  claimed 
the  guardianship  of  his  infant  nephew.  His  sister  appealed 
for  protection  to  Nicomedes  of  Bithynia;  but  Mithridates 
entered  Cappadocia,  murdered  his  nephew,  and  seized  the 
kingdom.  The  Cappadocians  rebelled  against  him,  and 
called  on  the  Romans.  The  senate  declared  them  free,  and 
directed  them  to  form  a  republic ;  but  knowing  none  but  the 

*  Appian,  Mithridatica,  1—63.  Bell.  Civ.  i.  55—107.  Velleius,  ii. 
20—28.     Plut.,  Marius  and  Sulla. 

39  QQ 


'*^38  HISTORY    OF    ROME. 

regal  form  of  government,  they  sent  to  entreat  that  they 
might  have  a  king.  Their  wish  was  acceded  to,  and  their 
choice  fell  on  one  Ariobarzanes.  Mithridates  made  no  op- 
position; but  he  secretly  stirred  up  the  Armenians,  who 
drove  the  new  monarch  from  his  throne ;  and  Sulla,  who  had 
just  been  praetor,  was  sent  from  Rome  (660)  to  restore  him. 
On  this  occasion  Sulla  advanced  to  the  Euphrates,  where 
Parthian  ambassadors  came  to  him  proposing  an  alliance 
with  Rome. 

On  the  death  of  Nicomedes(661)  the  throne  of  Bithynia 
was  disputed  by  his  sons  Nicomedes  and  Socrates  named 
Chrestos;  the  Pontic  king,  in  alliance  with  his  powerful  son- 
in-law  Tigranes  of  Armenia,  supported  the  latter,  and  at  the 
same  time  drove  Ariobarzanes  out  of  Cappadocia.  The 
Romans  sent  (662)  an  embassy,  headed  by  M.  Aquilius,  to 
restore  the  two  kings,  which  was  done  without  any  attempt 
on  the  part  of  Mithridates  to  prevent  it.  Aquilius  and  his 
friends  and  followers,  who  had,  acording  to  the  usual  custom, 
made  the  kings  and  all  the  towns  pay  large  sums  of  money  or 
enormous  interest  for  what  they  lent  them,  looking  forward  to 
the  advantages  to  be  derived  from  a  war,  required  the  kings 
to  make  an  irruption  into  the  dominions  of  Mithridates, 
Nicomedes  unwillingly  complied,  on  their  assurance  that 
they  would  aid  him.  Mithrid&tes,  desirous  to  put  the 
Romans  in  the  wrong,  offered  no  resistance,  but  sent  an  em- 
bassy to  complain  ;  and  on  receiving  an  ambiguous,  unsatisfac- 
tory reply,  he  entered  and  seized  Cappadocia.  Hethen«ent 
again  to  the  Romans,  displaying  his  power  and  advising  them 
to  justice  and  peace;  but  they  in  indignation  ordered  his 
envoy  to  quit  their  camp  and  never  to  return. 

The  Roman  commissioners,  with  L.  Cassius,  the  governor 
of  the  province  of  Asia,  now  took  upon  them,  without  con- 
sulting the  senate  and  people,  and  in  the  very  midst  of  the 
Social  war,  to  make  war  on  a  most  powerful  monarch.  They 
coHected  a  force  of  120,000  men,  and  dividing  them  into  three 
corps,  Cassius,  Aquilius,  and  d.  Oppius  took  different  posi- 
tions, while  Nicomedes  was  at  the  head  of  an  army  of  his 
subjects.  But  the  Pontic  generals  Archelaus  and  Neop- 
tolemus,  two  Cappadocians  by  birth,  defeated  Nicomedes ; 
the  Roman  commanders  successively  had  the  same  fate,  and 
Mithridates  was  speedily  master  of  the  whole  of  Asia  north 
of  Mount  Taurus ;  the  isles  of  the  ^Egean  also  cheerfully  sub- 
mitted to  his  dominion,  Rhodes  alone  remaining  faithful  to 
the  Romans. 


SULLA   IN   GRKECI.  339 

Mithridates  now  gave  a  dreadful  proof  of  his  hatred  to  the 
Romans.  He  sent  secret  orders  to  the  people  of  the  Greek 
towns  on  the  coast  to  rise  on  a  certain  day  and  massacre  all 
the  Romans  and  Italians,  men,  women  and  children,  slaves 
and  free,  without  mercy ;  and  such  was  the  hatred  the 
Romans  had  brought  on  themselves  by  their  insolence, 
oppression  and  extortion,  that  the  mandate  was  strictly 
obeyed,  —  less,  says  the  historian,  from  fear  of  the  king  than 
from  animosity  toward  them.  No  mercy  was  shown,  no 
temple  was  a  sanctuary  ;  those  who  grasped  the  images  of  the 
gods  were  torn  from  them ;  the  children  were  slain  before 
the  face  of  their  mothers,  whose  own  fate  was  only  so  long 
deferred.  The  lowest  calculation  gives  eighty  thousand  as 
the  number  of  those  who  perished.  Such  as  escaped  sought 
refuge  in  Rhodes,  which  Mithridates  besieged  by  sea  and 
land ;  but  to  no  effect,  as  he  was  obliged  to  retire  with 
disgrace.  Meantime  in  Greece  the  Athenians,  Boeotians, 
Achseans,  and  Laconians  had  declared  for  him,  and  Arche- 
laus  passed  oyer  and  made  the  Pirseeus  his  head-quarters, 
while  an  Epicurean  philosopher  named  Aristion  became  the 
tyrant  of  the  city  by  means  of  a  garrison  of  two  thousand 
men  that  Archeiaus  had  given  him  to  guard  the  treasure 
which  was  transferred  thither  from  Delos.  Near  Chseronea, 
Brutius  Sura,  the  legate  of  Q,.  Sentius  governor  of  Macedo- 
nia, engaged  the  Pontic  troops  for  three  days,  and  forced 
them  to  fall  back  to  Athens. 

Sulla  was  now  (665)  landed  with  five  legions  and  some' 
troops  of  the  allies.  The  Bceotians  returned  to  their  alle- 
giance to  Rome ;  he  advanced  into  Attica,  and  laid  siege  to 
Athens  and  the  Piraeeus,  being  desirous  to  end  the  war  as 
speedily  as  possible  and  return  to  Rome.  He  first  tried  to 
storm  the  Piraeeus,  but,  failing  in  the  attempt,  he  made  all 
kinds  of  machines,  cutting  down  for  that  purpose  the  trees  of 
the  Academy  and  the  Lyceum,  and  taking  the  sacred  treas- 
ures from  Epidaurus,  Delphi,  and  Olympia.  All  the  assaults 
on  the  Piraeeus  were  gallantly  repelled  by  Archeiaus,  and  as 
the  Pontic  fleet  commanded  the  sea  no  want  was  felt ;  but  in 
the  city  famine  soon  began  to  rage,  while  the  misery  of  the 
wretched  citizens  was  augmented  by  the  insolence  and  cru- 
elty of  Aristion.  At  length  the  chatter  of  some  old  men, 
blaming  him  for  not  having  secured  a  certain  part  of  the  wall, 
was  overheard  by  the  Romans,  and  Sulla  attacked  the  town 
on  that  side  and  forced  his  way  in.  He  gave  orders  for  an 
indiscriminate  slaughter  ;  no  age  or  sex  was  spared ;  the  very 


3ib 


HISTORY   OF    ROME. 


Streets  ran  blood,  till  night  ended  the  carnage ;  he  then 
granted  to  the  prayers  of  his  friends,  and  the  former  renown 
of  the  city,  the  lives  of  those  who  remained.  Aristion  fled  to 
the  Acropolis,  but  thirst  soon  compelled  him  to  surrender, 
and  he  was  put  to  death.  Sulla  then  pressed  the  siege  of  the 
Piraeeus  more  vigorously  than  ever,  and  Archelaus  having  at 
length  embarked  his  troops  and  left  it  to  its  fate,  he  took  and, 
burned  it,  without  sparing  its  noble  docks  and  arsenal,  (666.) 

Archelaus  meantime,  in  conjunction  with  the  other  gen- 
erals, had  assembled  an  army  stated  at  120,000  men,  with 
which  he  encamped  near  ChaBronea.  Sulla  led  his  troops 
into  Bceotia.  Archelaus,  knowing  the  inferiority  of  his 
soldiers,  wished  to  avoid  an  action,  but  the  impetuosity  of 
some  of  the  other  generals  was  not  to  be  restrained;  they 
gave  battle  to  disadvantage,  and  sustained  so  entire  a  defeat 
that  only  10,000  men,  it  is  said,  of  the  whole  army  escaped, 
while  we  are  assured  that  the  Romans  lost  but  thirteen  men  ! 
Archelaus  fled  to  Eubcea,  and  soon  after  Mithridates,  having 
sent  another  army  of  80,000  men  under  Dorylaus  into  Greece, 
he  joined  it,  and,  taking  the  command,  encamped  at  Orcho- 
menus.  Sulla,  seeing  the  fine  plain  which  extends  thence  to 
Lake  Cop&is  so  well  adapted  for  the  action  of  the  enemies' 
numerous  cavalry,  dug  trenches  through  it  ten  feet  wide  to 
impede  them.  Archelaus,  observing  what  he  was  about,  made 
a  charge ;  the  Romans  were  giving  way,  when  Sulla,  jumping, 
from  his  horse,  seized  a  standard,  and  advancing  alone  with  it 
cried  out,  **  If  any  ask  you,  Romans,  where  you  left  your 
general,  say.  Fighting  at  Orchomenus."  Shame  took  place 
of  fear,  the  troops  turned,  Sulla  sprang  again  to  horse,  the 
enemies  ^ere  driven  to  their  camp  with  a  loss  of  15,000  men, 
and  next  day  the  camp  was  stormed,  and  those  who  were  ii 
it  slaughtered  or  driven  into  the  marshes,  where  they  were 
drowned.  Archelaus  fled  to  Chalcis,  and  Sulla  retired, 
Thessaly  for  the  winter. 

Meantime  matters  at  Rome  had  taken  a  turn  highly  un*^ 
favorable  to  Sulla,  and  his  friends  came  flying  for  safety  tc 
his  camp.  He  was  therefore  anxious  to  terminate  the  warj 
and  gladly  hearkened  to  the  proposal  of  an  interview  witl 
Archelaus  for  that  purpose.  The  Pontic  general,  who  knei 
his  situation,  proposed  that  he  should  give  up  all  designs 
Asia  and  return  to  the  civil  war  in  Italy,  for  which  Mithrij 
dates  would  supply  him  with  money,  ships,  and  troops.  Thi 
being  indignantly  rejected,  it  was  agreed  that  the  king  shouU 
restore  all  his  conquests  in  Asia,  pay  two  thousand  talents^ 


FLACCU8  AND  FIMBBIA.  341 

and  furnish  seventy  ships  fully  equipped,  and  then  be  secured 
in  his  other  dominions  and  declared  an  ally  of  Rome.  Sulla 
then,  accompanied  by  Archelaus,  set  out  for  the  Hellespont ; 
but  envoys  came  from  Mithridates  refusing  to  give  up  Paph- 
lagonia.  This  roused  the  indignation  of  Sulla.  Archelaus 
craved  permission  to  go  to  his  master ;  and  an  interview 
between  Sulla  and  Mithridites  having  taken  place  at  Darda- 
num,  all  was  arranged  as  Sulla  desired.  He  excused  himself 
to  his  soldiers  for  not  exacting  more  satisfaction  for  the  blood 
of  so  many  myriads  of  Roman  citizens,  by  telling  them  that 
if  the  king  and  Fimbria  were  to  unite  their  troops  he  should 
be  unable  to  withstand  them. 

C.  Flavins  Fimbria  was  at  this  time  in  Asia,  at  the  head 
of  a  Roman  army  of  the  Marian  faction.  Cinna,  as  we  shall 
presently  relate,  having  made  L.  Valerius  Flaccus  his  col- 
league in  the  consulate,  sent  him  with  two  legions  to  take  the 
conduct  of  the  Mithridatic  war  from  Sulla,  and,  as  he  was 
not  a  military  man.  Fimbria,  who  was  a  good  officer,  was 
sent  out  as  his  legate.  Fearing,  as  it  would  seem,  to  meet 
Sulla,  Flaccus  led  his  troops  through  Macedonia  to  the  Hel- 
lespont, and  here  a  quarrel  taking  place  between  him  and 
Fimbria,  the  latter,  having  excited  a  sedition  against  him 
among  the  soldiers,  whom  his  avarice  had  alienated,  murdered 
him  and  took  the  command  of  the  army,  with  which  he 
gained  some  advantages  over  Mithridates  and  his  son.  He 
was  encamped  at  Thyatira  at  the  time  of  the  peace,  and  Sulla 
instantly  marched  against  him.  Fimbria's  troops  began  at 
once  to  desert,  and  finding  he  could  not  rely  on  them,  and 
being  mortified  by  Sulla*s  refusal  of  a  personal  interview,  he 
put  an  end  to  himself.  His  army  then  joined  that  of  Sulla, 
who  having  regulated  the  affairs  of  Asia,  rewarding  those 
who  had  been  faithful  to  Rome,  and  imposing  such  heavy 
fines  on  the  rest  of  the  towns  as  immersed  them  in  debt  to  the 
usurers  and  became  a  source  of  incalculable  misery,  set  out 
for  Greece  on  his  return  to  Italy,  where  a  new  war  awaited 
him. 

For  scarcely  had  he  left  Rome  when  Cinna,  heedless  of , 
his  oath,  and  having,  it  is  said,  received  a  large  bribe  for  the 
purpose,  renewed  Sulpicius'  project  of  dividing  the  new 
citizens  among  all  the  tribes.  Octavius,  with  the  senate  and 
the  old  citizens,  opposed  him.  A  large  number  of  the  new 
citizens  armed  with  daggers  occupied  the  Forum,  to  carry 
the  law  by  terror ;  but  Octavius,  at  the  head  of  the  opposite 
party,  also  armed,  came  down  and  dispersed  them.  Several 
29» 


342  HISTORY    OF    ROMJS. 

were  slain,  and  Cinna,  having  vainly  essayed  to  excite  the 
slaves,  fled  from  the  city.  The  senate  declared  his  dignity  to 
be  forfeited,  and  L.  Cornelius  Merula,  the  Flamen  Dialis, 
was  made  consul  in  his  place.  Cinna  repaired  to  the  army  at 
Nola,  which  he  induced  to  declare  for  him ;  he  also  gained 
several  of  the  allied  towns,  which  furnished  him  with  men 
and  money ;  and  C.  Milonius,  d.  Sertorius,  and  others  of  his 
senatorial  friends,  having  come  from  Rome  and  joined  him, 
he  resumed  the  consular  ensigns  and  advanced  against  the 
city,  which  Octavius  and  Merula  had  put  in  a  state  of  defence. 
They  had  also  summoned  Pompeius  Strabo  to  their  aid,  and 
he  was  now  encamped  before  the  Colline  gate. 

Cinna  having  recalled  Marius,  he  embarked  with  his 
friends  and  made  sail  for  Italy.  He  landed  in  Etruria, 
where  his  name  and  his  promises  respecting  the  places  in  the 
tribes  drew  about  six  thousand  men  to  his  standard ;  he  then 
sent  to  Cinna,  offermg  to  serve  under  him.  Cinna  overjoyed 
sent  him  proconsular  ensigns ;  but  Marius,  who  still  wore 
the  dress  in  which  he  had  fled  from  Rome,  and  had  never 
cut  or  trimmed  his  hair  since  that  time,  replied  that  they  did 
not  become  one  in  his  condition.  They  divided  their  forces 
into  three  parts,  Cinna  and  Cn.  CarbO  lying  before  the  city, 
Sertorius  above,  Marius  below  it ;  and  Marius  having  taken 
Ostia,  and  put  its  inhabitants  to  the  sword,  threw  a  bridge 
over  the  river  so  that  no  provisions  could  reach  the  city. 

Octavius  was  advised  to  offer  liberty  to  the  slaves ;  but  he 
replied  that  he  would  not  give  slaves  a  share  in  that  coun- 
try, from  which,  in  defence  of  the  laws,  he  was  excluding 
C.  Marius.  Orders  were  sent  to  Q,.  Metellus  Pius,  who  was 
acting  against  the  Samnites,  to  make  terms  with  them  and 
come  to  the  aid  of  the  city.  But  while  he  hesitated  to  grant 
the  terms  they  required,  Marius  sent,  and  promising  them  all 
they  demanded,  gained  them  over  to  his  side.  Ap.  Claudius, 
a  military  tribune  who  had  charge  of  the  Janiculan,  admitted 
Marius  into  the  town,  who  then  let  in  Cinna  ;  but  the  troops 
of  Octavius  and  Pompeius  drove  them  out  again.  Pompeius 
was  shortly  after  killed  by  lightning. 

Famine  now  began  to  be  dreaded  in  the  city,  and  both 
slaves  and  free  deserted  in  great  numbers.  The  senate 
therefore  sent  envoys  to  treat  with  Cinna :  he  asked  if  they 
came  to  him  as  consul  or  as  a  private  person ;  they  hesitated, 
and  retired.  He  then  encamped  nearer  the  city,  and  the 
senate  finding  the  desertion  increase  were  obliged  to  deprive 
Merula  of  his  office,  and  send  to  Cinna  as  consul.     They 


CRUELTIES   OF   MAAIUS  AND    CINNA.  MS 

only  asked  him  to  swear  that  there  should  be  no  slaughter ; 
he  declined  to  swear,  but  promised  tliat  he  would  not  of  his 
own  accord  be  the  cause  of  any  one's  death,  and  he  desired 
that  Octavius  should  leave  the  city  lest  any  evil  should  befall 
him.  Cinna  spoke  thus  from  his  tribunal,  beside  which 
stood  C.  Marius  in  silence  ;  but  his  stern  look  showed  what 
he  was  meditating.  When  the  senate  sent  to  invite  them  to 
enter  the  city,  Marius  said,  smiling  ironically,  that  such  was 
not  permitted  to  exiles.  The  tribunes  assembled  the  tribes  to 
vote  his  recall,  but  not  more  than  three  or  four  had  voted, 
when  he  flung  off  the  mask,  entered  the  city  at  the  head  of  a 
body-guard  of  slaves  named  Bardisans,  who  slew  all  he 
pointed  out  to  them ;  it  at  length  sufficing  for  Marius  not  to 
return  any  one's  salute  for  these  ruffians  to  murder  him. 
Their  atrocities  at  length  rose  to  such  a  height  that  Cinna 
and  Sertorius  found  it  necessary  to  fall  on  and  massacre  them 
in  their  sleep. 

We  will  enter  into  some  details  of  the  murders  now  per- 
petrated. Octavius,  declaring  that  while  consul  he  would 
never  quit  the  city,  retired  to  the  Janiculan.  Here,  while 
he  sat  on  his  tribunal  surrounded  by  his  lictors,  some  horse- 
men, sent  for  the  purpose,  killed  him,  and,  cutting  off  his 
head,  brought  it  to  Cinna,  by  whom  it  was  fixed  on  the  Rostra. 
C.  and  L.  Julius,  Atilius  Serranus,  P.  Lentulus,  and  M. 
Baebius  were  overtaken  and  slain  as  they  fled.  Crassus  and 
his  son  being  pursued,  the  father  killed  the  son,  and  then  was 
slain  himself.  M.  Antonius,  the  great  orator,  sought  refuge 
in  the  house  of  a  peasant,  who,  having  sent  his  slave  to  a  tav- 
ern to  get  somewhat  better  wine  than  usual,  the  host  inquired 
the  reason ;  the  slave  whispered  it  to  him,  and  he  went  off, 
and,  finding  Marius  at  supper,  gave  him  the  information. 
Marius  clapped  his  hands  with  joy,  and  was  hardly  kept 
from  going  himself  to  seize  him.  He  sent  a  tribune  named 
Annius,  who,  staying  without,  sent  some  soldiers  in  to  kill 
him;  but  the  eloquence  with  which  Antonius  pleaded  for 
liis  life  was  such  that  the  soldiers  stood  as  if  enchanted.  An- 
nius, wondering  at  their  delay,  went  in  and  himself  cut  off 
Antonius'  head,  and  brought  it  to  Marius.  Q,.  Ancharius, 
seeing  Marius  about  to  sacrifice  on  the  capitol,  and  thinking 
li(3  might  be  in  a  merciful  mood,  approached  and  addressed 
him,  but  the  signal  was  given  and  he  was  slain.  L.  Merula 
and  Q.  Catulus,  Marius'  colleague  in  the  Cimbric  war,  and 
whom  he  had  never  forgiven,  put  themselves  to  a  voluntary 
death.     Merula  opened  his  veins,  and  a  tablet  was  found  by 


344  HISTORY  OF    ROME. 

him  saying  that  he  had  previously  taken  off  his  sacred  hat, 
(apex,)  in  which  it  was  not  lawful  for  a  flamen  to  die.* 
Catulus  shut  himself  up  in  a  room  newly  plastered  with  lime, 
and  burning  charcoal  in  it  suffocated  himself  Nor  must  the 
fidelity  of  the  slaves  of  Cornutus  go  without  its  praise,  who 
concealed  their  master,  and  taking  and  dressing  the  corpse 
of  some  common  person  burned  it  as  his,  and  then  conveyed 
him  away  secretly  to  Gaul.  All  the  friends  of  Sulla  were 
murdered ;  his  house  was  razed,  his  property  confiscated,  and 
himself  declared  an  enemy.  Murder,  banishment,  confis- 
cation raged  every  day,  and  even  sepulture  was  refused  to  the 
bodies  of  the  slain.  Marius,  whose  appetite  for  blood  in- 
creased with  indulgence,  was  at  the  end  of  the  year  made 
consul  the  seventh  time  with  Cinna,  but  he  died  in  the  first 
month  while  meditating  new  schemes  of  vengeance.f  Cinna 
then  had  L.  Valerius  Flaccus,  and  when  he  heard  of  his 
murder,  Cn.  Papirius  Carbo,  chosen  as  his  colleague,  (667.) 
Gains  Marius  was  one  of  those  men  who,  in  particular 
states  of  society,  rise  to  eminence  without  being  really  great. 
His  talents  were  purely  military ;  his  good  qualities  those  of 
the  mere  soldier ;  he  was  temperate  and  free  from  avarice, 
but  he  was  envious,  jealous,  ignorant,  superstitious,  and  cruel, 
even  to  ferocity.  As  a  statesman  he  was  contemptible,  the 
mere  tool  of  others,  and  deficient  in  moral  courage.  Even 
in  his  military  capacity  he  was  rather  a  good  officer  than 
a  great  general.  In  Numidia  he  only  imitated  Metellus,  who 
had  really  brought  the  war  to  a  conclusion ;  there  is  nothing 
remarkable  in  his  conduct  of  the  Gimbric  war ;  and,  if  Sulla 
is  to  be  believed,  the  battle  at  Vercellse  did  him  no  great 
credit.  It  was  party  spirit,  not  a  sense  of  his  superior  merits, 
that  renewed  his  consulates  at  this  time ;  for  surely  Metellus, 
if  no  other,  could  have  conducted  the  Gimbric  war  as  well  as 
Marius.  Finally,  in  the  Social  war,  when  opposed  to  able 
generals  and  good  troops,  his  deficiencies  became  apparent.^: 

*  The  office  now  remained  vacant  till  744.  Dion,  liv.  36;  Tac.  Ann. 
iii.58;  Suet.  Octav.  31. 

t  Fimbria,  who  was  at  this  time  quaestor,  at  the  funeral  of  Marius 
ordered  Q,.  Scsevola,  the  chief  pontiff,  to  be  slain.  Finding  that  the 
wound  was  not  mortal,  he  prosecuted  him ;  and  being  asked  what 
charges  he  could  bring  against  so  excellent  a  man,  he  replied,  that  of 
not  receiving  the  whole  weapon  in  his  body.  (Cicero,  Roscius 
Amer.12.) 

t  It  may  surprise  some  to  find  the  aristocratic  Cicero  constantly 
lauding  Marius ;  but  they  were  natives  of  the  same  place,  their  families 
had  been  connected,  and  Cicero  was  a  vain-glorious  man. 


RETURN    OF    SULLA.  345 

Those  who  had  escaped  from  the  tyranny  of  Marius  and 
Cinna  sought  refuge  with  Sulla,  and  they  were  so  numerous 
that  his  camp  seemed  to  contain  a  senate.  Cinna  and  Carbo 
knowmg  their  danger,  exerted  themselves  to  the  utmos  to 
raise  troops  and  money  through  Italy  to  oppose  him.  T  Is 
however  carried  m  the  senate  to  send  an  embassy  to  treat  of 
peace.  Orders  were  forwarded  to  Cinna  to  give  over  levying 
troops  till  Sulla's  answer  should  arrive;  to  which  he  proS 
obedience  but  yielded  none.  He  assembled  his  troops  to 
TafterkiW  !'":;;"  '^  ^PP-^^uHa  there,  but  he  was  s'hort- 
consut  Sa)  ^  '"  '  "'"'^"^'  '"^  Carbo  remained  sole 

Sulla's  answer  now  arrived,  declaring  his  willingness  to 
obey  the  senate,  provided  all  those  who  had  soughf  refuge 
with  him  were  restored  to  their  country,  and  himlelf  to  dl 
his  dignities  and  honors;  but  that  he  never  could  be  the 
riend  of  those  who  had  perpetrated  such  atrocities,  though 
the  people  might  pardon  them  if  they  pleased  :  adding  that  he 
hould  be  better  able  to  protect  himself  and  friends  by  retain- 
ing  a  well-affected  army.  His  envoys  however,  hearing  at 
Brundisium  of  the  death  of  Cirina,  did  not  proceed  in^he 
business.  Carbo,  to  strengthen  himself,  had  the  freedmen 
distributed  through  all  the  tribes,  and  he  wished  to  exact  ho^ 
tages  from  all  the  towns  and  colonies  in  Italy,  but  was  pre^ 
vented  by  the  senate  He  had  also  a  decree  passed  ordering 
all  the  armies  to  be  disbanded.  "ruermg 

.Jlfl'7  ^n  Tu^  of  Cinna's  faction  was  at  this  time  tri- 

TJt  A  f\^A  ^'.^^f '  ^^^"^  '^'^y  ^^^  ^^"t  thither  as  pro- 
praetor, defeated  and  drove  out  of  it  Q.  Metellus  Pius  who 
supported  the  cause  of  the  aristocracy  ' 

At  length  (669)  Sulla,  having  regulated  the  affairs  of 
Greece  and  Asia^  embarked  in  1600  vessels,  with  an  army  of 
,  40,000  men  at  Patr^,  and  landed  at  Brundisium.*  He  was 
joined  by  Metellus  with  what  troops  he  had,  and  the  nobility 
flocked  to  him  in  such  numbers  that  scarcely  any  seemed  left 
an  the  city  Cn.  Pompeius,  (the  son  of  him  who  had  been 
struck  by  lightning,)  a  young  map  of  but  three-and-twenty 
years  who  had  impeded  the  levies  of  Carbo  in  Picenum  and 
raised  there  an  army  of  three  legions  on  his  own  account, 
with  which  he  had  succesfully  opposed  the  troops  of  Carbo'a 
generals,  also  came  to  join  him.     Sulla  received  this  young 

rr:rkXT^..Z:lT^^^^  -^"'^"^  ^^^^-^  ^^^t  he  saUea 

R  R 


346  HISTORY    OF    ROME. 

man  with  distinguished  favor,  styled  him  Imperator,  and 
always  rose  at  his  approach  and  uncovered  his  head,  —  hon* 
ors  which  he  showed  to  no  one  else. 

Those  of  the  other  party  at  Rome,  well  aware  of  Sulla's 
merciless,  unrelenting  character,  saw  that  there  was  no  me- 
dium for  them  between  victory  and  ruin;  and  the  people  in 
general,  knowing  that  his  victory  would  be  followed  by  mur- 
ders and  confiscations,  made  every  effort  to  resist  him.  The 
consuls,  therefore,  L.  Scipio  and  C.  Junius  Nordanus  were 
enabled  to  enroll  a  force  of  100,000  men  for  the  war  against 
him.  The  first  battle  was  fought  between  him  and  Norbanus 
at  Canusium,  where  the  latter  was  defeated  with  the  loss  of 
six  thousand  men,  and  fled  to  Capua.  Sulla  advanced  into 
Campania  :  at  Teanum  he  proposed  a  conference  with  Scipio 
about  regulating  the  state,  and  he  took  advantage  of  the  ne- 
gotiations to  gain  the  consul's  troops,  who,  when  Sulla  pre- 
pared to  attack  their  camp,  all  went  over  to  him,  leaving 
Scipio  and  his  son  alone  in  their  tent ;  they  were,  however, 
dismissed  in  safety  by  Sulla.  He  then  tried  the  same  course 
with  Norbanus  and  his  troops  at  Capua,  but  without  success. 
Carbo  hastened  to  the  defence  of  Rome,  where  he  caused 
Metellus  and  all  the  senators  who  were  with  Sulla  to  be  de- 
clared public  enemies.  The  rest  of  the  year  was  spent  by 
both  parties  in  augmenting  their  forces,  in  which  the  consuls 
had  the  advantage,  being  largely  reentbrced  from  the  greater 
part  of  Italy  and  from  Cisalpine  Gaul.  Among  the  events  of 
this  year  was  the  conflagration  of  the  temple  erected  on  the 
Capitol  by  the  last  kings  of  Rome. 

Carbo  had  himself  and  C.  Marius,  the  son  of  the  great 
Marius,  chosen  consuls  for  the  next  year,  (670.)  The  cam- 
paign was  opened  with  the  defeat  at  the  iEsis,  a  stream  which 
divides  Umbria  from  Picenum,  of  Carbo's  legate,  C.  Albius 
Carrinas,  by  Metellus ;  and  soon  after  Marius,  giving  battle  to 
Sulla  at  Sacriportum  near  Signia,  was  overcome,  in  conse- 
quence of  a  part  of  his  troops  going  over  to  the  enemy.  Ma- 
rius and  the  rest  of  his  troops  fled  to  Prjeneste,  but  when  a 
part  had  gotten  in,  the  Praenestines  closed  their  gates  lest  the 
pursuers  should  enter  also.  Marius  himself  was  drawn  up 
by  a  rope;  but  those  without,  who  were  mostly  Samnites, 
were  slaughtered  without  mercy  by  Sulla;  who,  having  left  i 
Q,.  Lucretius  Ofella  to  blockade  the  town,  led  his  troops  | 
toward  Rome,  Marius,  being  resolved  that  his  enemies  there 
should  not  escape,  sent  orders  to  the  praetor  L.  Junius  Bru- 
tus Damasippus  to  assemble  the  senate  as  if  for  some  other 


VICTORIES    OF    SULLA.  347 

purpose,  and  then  to  seize  and  put  to  death  P.  Antistius, 
P.  Carbo,  L.  Domitius,  and  d.  Mucius  Scaevola  the  chief  pon- 
tiff. His  orders  were  executed;  Sceevola,  it  is  said,  was 
butchered  in  the  vestibule  of  the  temple  of  Vesta. 

Sulla,  having  led  his  army  to  the  field  of  Mars,  entered  the 
city,  from  which  all  his  enemies  had  fled.  He  sold  all  their 
goods  by  auction,  and  then  assembling  the  people  lamented 
the  necessity  he  was  under  of  acting  thus,  and  assured 
them  that  all  would  soon  be  well  again.  Leaving  Rome  he 
marched  against  Carbo,  who  was  at  Clusium :  but  we  need 
not  enter  into  an  enumeration  of  the  various  actions  which 
now  occurred  in  different  parts ;  the  superiority  in  military 
skill  was  so  decided  on  the  part  of  Sulla  and  his  generals 
that  they  had  the  advantage  in  every  encounter ;  many  places 
submitted;  the  defeated  armies  mostly  dispersed  and  went 
to  their  several  homes ;  Norbanus  fled  to  Rhodes,  and  Carbo 
to  Africa. 

The  Samnites  and  Lucanians  had  taken  a  large  share  in 
the  war,  and  now  their  troops,  under  Pontius  Telesinus  and 
Lamponius,  united  with  the  remnants  of  Carbo's  army  under 
Carrinas,  Marcius,  and  Damasippus,  —  having  vainly  at- 
tempted to  relieve  Praeneste,  —  advanced  against  Rome ;  Te- 
liesinus  crying  that  "  there  never  would  be  wanting  wolves 
^  to  ravage  Italy  if  the  wood  that  harbored  them  was  not  cut 
down."  Their  forces  amounted  to  forty  thousand  men. 
Sulla  returned  with  all  speed  to  Rome,  and  late  in  the  day 
a  furious  engagement  commenced  before  the  Colline  gate. 
Sulla's  right  wing  under  Crassus  was  victorious,  the  left  led 
by  himself* was  driven  back  to  the  city,  but  the  gates  were 
shut  against  them,  and  they  were  forced  back  on  the  enemy. 
The  engagement  lasted  till  late  in  the  night.  The  whole 
number  of  the  slain  on  both  sides  is  said  to  have  been  fifty 
thousand,  among  whom  was  Telesinus,  whose  head  and  those 
of  Marcius  and  Carrinas  were  cut  off  and  exposed  before 
Praeneste.  Marius,  in  attempting  to  escape  by  a  mine  from 
that  town,  was  killed  by  those  who  saw  him  coming  out; 
others  say  he  put  an  end  to  himself.  His  head  was  cut  off 
and  fixed  on  the  Rostra  by  Sulla,  who  now  assumed  the  title 
of  Felix,  or  Fortunate.  After  his  victory  Sulla  collected 
about  six  or  eight  thousand  of  his  prisoners  in  a  public  place, 
near  the  temple  of  Bellona,  whither  he  called  the  senate. 
As  he  was  addressing  them,  the  cries  of  the  captives,  whom 
he  soldiers  were  slaughtering  by  his  orders,  reached  their 
ears ;  the  fathers  started,  but  he  coolly  desired  them  to  attend 


348  HISTORY    OF    ROME. 

to  him  as  it  was  only  some  bad  person^  who  were  being  chas- 
tised by  his  orders.  They  saw  then  that  the  tyrant  was 
changed,  not  the  tyranny.     ' 

Sulla  and  his  partisans  now  gave  a  loose  to  their  ven- 
geance ;  murders  were  committed  all  over  the  city ;  and  the 
Marians  were  not  alone  the  victims,  as  several  took  the  op- 
portunity of  killing  their  private  enemies  or  their  creditors. 
Universal  terror  prevailed :  at  length  a  young  man  named  C. 
Metellus  ventured,  in  the  senate,  to  ask  Sulla  when  there  was 
to  be  an  end  of  the  slaughter.  *'  We  do  not  ask,"  said  he, 
"  to  save  those  whom  you  intend  to  destroy,  but  to  free  from 
apprehension  those  whom  you  mean  to  save."  Sulla  replied 
that  he  did  not  yet  know  whom  he  would  spare.  "Then 
tell  us,"  said  Metellus,  *'  whom  you  will  punish."  Sulla 
said  he  would,  and  he  at  once  posted  (proscripsit)  the  names 
of  eighty  persons ;  next  day  he  added  two  hundred  and 
twenty  names,  and  the  following  day  an  equal  number.  He 
addressed  the  people,  telling  them  that  these  were  all  he 
could  recollect  at  present,  but  that  he  would  add  any  others 
that  occurred  to  him,  as  he  was  resolved  to  spare  none  who 
had  borne  any  command,  or  aided  his  enemies  since  the  day 
that  Scipio,  as  he  alleged,  had  broken  his  engagement  with 
him,  but  that  if  the  people  obeyed  him  he  would  make  a 
salutary  change  in  their  condition.* 

In  this  proscription,  as  it  was  named,  lists  of  those  in- 
cluded iii  it  were  hung  up  in  the  Forum,  and  a  reward  of 
50,000  sesterces  was  offered  for  each  head ;  it  was  made  a 
capital  offence  to  harbor  or  save  any  of  the  proscribed. 
The  properties  of  all  in  the  proscription  lists  werfe  declared 
forfeit,  and  their  children  and  grandchildren  incapable  of 
holding  office  in  the  state. 

In  the  present  state  of  morals  at  Rome  the  effect  of  this 
proseription  may  be  easily  conceived.  Men  were  fallen  on 
and  butchered  in  the  face  of  day  in  the  streets  and  in  the 
temples,  and  their  heads  cut  off  and  brought  before  the 
tribunal  of  Sulla.  Sons  might  be  seen  bearing  the  gory 
visages  of  their  fathers,  brothers  those  of  their  brothers, 
slaves  those  of  their  masters :  wives  closed  their  doors 
against  their  own  husbands. 

Fresh  lists  soon  appeared  ;  some  made  interest  with  Sulla 
to  have  their  private  enemies  proscribed,  others  those  whose 
houses  or  lands  they  coveted.     Q.  Aurelius,  a  quiet  man 

*  Aj^ian  bbjb  he  then  proscribed  40  senatorrand  1600  knights. 


DICTATORSHIP    AND    LAWS    OF    SULLA.  349 

who  had  abstained  from  politics,  reading  the  proscription 
list  one  day  in  the  Forum,  saw  his  own  name  in  it.  "Alas!" 
cried  he,  "  ray  Alban  estate  has  ruined  me,"  and  he  had 
gone  but  a  few  steps  when  he  was  followed  and  slain.  L. 
Catilina,  afterwards  so  notorious,  killed  his  own  brother, 
and  then  applied  to  Sulla  to  have  him  put  in  the  list.  To 
evince  his  gratitude  he  soon  after  slew  the  praetor  C.  Marius 
Gratidianus  with  great  cruelty  at  the  tomb  of  Catulus,  and, 
bringing  his  head  to  Sulla  as  he  sat  in  the  Forum,  went 
coolly,  before  all  the  people,  and  washed  his  hands  in 
the  holy-water  vessel  at  the  adjoining  temple  of  Apollo. 
Sulla  himself  always  presided  at  the  sale  of  the  goods  and 
properties  of  the  proscribed,  saying  that  he  was  selling  his 
spoils ;  and  many  of  his  friends,  such  as  his  step-son  ^Emilius. 
Scaurus,  and  M.  Licinius  Crassus,  were  enabled  to  acquire 
immense  fortunes  by  their  purchases  at  these  sales. 

Sulla's  atrocities  were  not  confined  to  Rome.  Murder  and 
confiscation  spread  all  through  Italy ;  the  states  and  towns 
which  had  aided  Cinna,  Carbo,  or  his  other  foes  with  men, 
money,  or  in  any  other  way,  were  called  to  a  severe  reckon- 
ing, their  citadels  and  walls  were  pulled  down,  and  heavy 
fines  or  taxes  imposed  on  them.  Some,  especially  in  Tus- 
cany, were  depopulated,  and  the  houses  and  lands  given  to 
his  soldiers,  for  whom  he  also  founded  other  colonies,  and 
thus  provided  his  three-and-twenty  legions  with  lands. 

The  great  object  of  Sulla  was  to  break  down  the  democ- 
racy, and  to  reestablish  the  ancient  aristocratic  form  of  the 
constitution.  For  this  purpose  he  resolved  to  revive  in  his 
own  person  the  dictatprship,  which  had  now  been  out  of  use 
one  hundred  and  twenty  years.  As  there  were  no  consuls 
he  directed  the  senate  to  appoint  an  interrex :  M.  Valerius 
Flaccus  was  chosen,  and  acting  under  the  directions  of  Sulla 
he  proposed  to  the  people  to  create  him  dictator  for  as  long 
a  time  as  might  suffice  to  regulate  the  city  and  all  Italy,  that 
is,  to  give  him  the  office  for  as  long  as  he  might  choose  to 
hold  it.  The  people  of  course  voted  as  required,  and  Sulla 
now  appeared  with  four-and-twenty  lictors  and  a  strong 
guard.  He  allowed,  however,  M.  Tullius  and  Cn.  Cornelius 
Dolabella  to  be  chosen  consuls  for  the  next  year. 

While  Sulla  was  thus  engaged  in  Italy,  Pompeius  had 
passed  over  to  Sicily.  Perperna,  who  was  in  the  island, 
quitted  it  when  he  landed  ;  and  shortly  after  Carbo,  who  was 
coming  thither  from  Africa,  was  made  a  prisoner  and  led  in 
chains  before  the  young  general's  tribunal.  Pompeius^  after 
30 


350  HISTOBY   OF    ROME. 

reproaching  him  bitterly,  ordered  him  to  be  executed,  though 
Carbo  when  in  power  had  befriended  him  and  prevented 
his  property  from  being  confiscated.  Pompeius  then  passed 
over  to  Africa,  and  having  defeated  Cinna's  son-in-law 
Domitius,  reduced  it  within  forty  days.  Though  he  was  only 
a  knight,  and  had  never  been  consul  or  praetor,  Sulla  allowed 
him  to  triumph.  On  this  occasion  the  dictator  gave  him  the 
title  of  Magnus  —  Great. 

We  will  enumerate  the  principal  of  the  Cornelian  laws,  as 
those  now  passed  by  Sulla  were  named.  First,  respecting 
the  colleges  of  priests,  the  Domitian  law  was  repealed,  and 
the  right  of  coopting  their  members  restored  to  the  sacred 
colleges;  the  number  of  the  pontiffs  and  augurs  was  raised 
from  ten  to  fifteen.  Respecting  the  magistracies,  no  one 
was  to  be  praetor  before  quaestor,  or  consul  before  praetor ; 
twenty  quaestors  to  be  chosen  annually,  partly  by  the  people, 
partly  by  the  consuls ;  in  like  manner  the  number  of  praetors 
to  be  raised  from  six  to  eight;  those  who  had  been  tribunes  to 

)be  incapable  of  the  higher  oflices,  and  the  tribunes  not  to 
have  the  power  of  proposing  laws.  He  restored  the  judicial 
power  to  the  senators,  and  prohibited  any  one  from  challen- 
ging more  than  three  jurors,  and  they  were  to  give  their  ver- 
dict openly  or  secretly  at  the  option  of  the  accused.  It  was 
(also  forbidden  to  any  governor  to  go  out  of  his  province  or 
'to  make  war  without  the  consent  of  the  senate  and  people. 
The  laws  against  extortion  in  the  provinces  were  made  more 
strict,  it  being  Sulla's  wish  to  attach  the  provincials  to  the 
government.  Sumptuary  and  other  laws  relating  to  morals 
were  passed ;  in  that  against  assassins  especial  care  was  taken 
to  exempt  those  who  had  murdered  the  proscribed.     As  the 

i senate  was  now  greatly  reduced,  Sulla  augmented  it  by 
three  hundred  hiembers  from  the  equestrian  order,  each  of 
them  being  chosen  by  the  comitia  of  the  tribes.  He  also 
selected  ten  thousand  of  the  slaves  of  the  proscribed,  to 
whom  he  gave  their  liberty,  and  enrolled  them  in  the  tribes 
under  the  name  of  Cornelians.  These  men  were  therefore 
always  at  his  devotion,  and  his  old  soldiers  were  ready  to 
appear  when  summoned,  so  that  he  was  under  no  apprehen- 
sion for  his  power. 

Sulla  showed  in  the  case  of  L.  Lucretius  Ofella  that  he 
would  have  his  laws  obeyed,  for  when  he  saw  him  suing 
for  the  consulate  without  having  been  quaestor  or  praetor,  he 
sent  to  tell  him  to  desist.  Ofella  taking  no  notice  of  the 
warning,  a  centurion  was  despatched  to  kill  him ;  and  when 


351 

the  people  seized  the  centurion  for  the  murder,  and  brought 
him  before  Sulla,  he  said  it  was  done  by  his  order, 
adding,  "  A  ploughman  was  one  time  annoyed  by  the 
vermin ;  he  stopped  the  plough  twice  and  shook  his  coat,  and 
when  they  still  bit  him  he  burned  the  coat  not  to  lose 
his  time;  sol  advise  those  who  have  been  twice  overcome 
not  to  expose  themselves  the  third  time  to  the  fire." 

During  the  first  year  of  his  dictatorship  (671)  Sulla  had 
himself  and  Metellus  Pius  chosen  consuls  for  the  following 
year.  In  673,  having  had  P.  Servilius  and  Ap.  Claudius 
elected,  he,  to  the  surprise  of  all  men,  laid  down  his  office 
and  retired  into  private  life.  The  man  who  had  put  to  death 
ninety  senators,  fifteen  consulars,  two  thousand  six  hundred 
knights,  besides  having  driven  numbers  into  exile,  and  in 
whose  struggle  for  the  supremacy  one  hundred  thousand  men 
had  perished,  who  had  confiscated  the  property  of  towns  and 
individuals  to  such  an  extent  as  had  reduced  thousands  and 
thousands  to  beggary  and  desperation*  —  that  man  dismissed 
his  lictors,  walked  alone  about  the  Forum  and  the  streets 
of  Rome,  calmly  offering  to  account  for  any  of  his  public 
actions!  It  is  said  that  one  day  a  young  man  followed  him 
home  cursing  and  reviling  him,  and  that  he  bore  it  patiently, 
only  saying,  "  That  youth's  conduct  will  teach  another  not  to 
lay  down  such  an  office  so  readily." 

Sulla  retired  to  Cumae,  where  he  employed  his  time  in 
writing  his  memoirs,  in  hunting  and  fishing,  and  in  drink- 
ing and  revelling  with  players  and  musicians.  He  was  here 
attacked  the  very  next  year  with  the  most  odious  of  all  dis- 
eases, {morbus  pedicularis ,)  a  judgment,  one  might  almost 
say,  from  heaven  on  him;  and  one  day  hearing  that  a  magis- 
trate of  the  adjacent  town  of  Puteoli  was  putting  off"  the 
payment  of  a  debt  to  the  corporation  expecting  his  death, 
he  sent  for  him  to  his  chamber  and  had  him  strangled  before 
his  eyes.  The  exertions  he  made  caused  him  to  throw  up  a 
quantity  of  blood,  and,  he  died  that  night,  in  the  sixtieth  year 
of  his  age,  (674.) 

Though  the  Cornelian  gens  had  hitherto  always  inhumed 
their  dead,  it  was  Sulla's  desire  that  his  body  should  be  burnt, 
lest  the  impotent  vengeance  he  had  exercised  on  the  remains 
of  Marius  might  in  a  turn  of  aff"airs  be  directed  against  his 
own.  After  some  opposition  on  the  part  of  the  consul  Lepi- 
dus,  it  was  decided  by  the  senate  that  his  corpse  should  be 

*  Appian,  B.  C.  i.  203. 


352  HISTORY   OF    ROME. 

conveyed  in  state  to  Roraej  and  be  burnt  in  the  Field  of 
Mars.  It  was  carried  on  a  golden  bier,  horsemen  and  trum- 
peters followed  it,  his  old  soldiers  flocked  from  all  parts  to 
attend  the  procession  :  they  moved  in  military  array,  standards 
and  axes  preceding  the  bier.  The  priests  and  vestals,  the 
senate,  magistrates,  and  knights,  came  forth  to  meet  it ;  more 
than  two  thousand  golden  crowns,  the  gifts  of  the  towns, 
his  legions,  and  his  friends,  were  borne  along;  the  Roman 
ladies  contributed  spices  in  such  abundance  that  large  figures 
of  Sulla  and  a  lictor  were  formed  out  of  them,  in  addition  to 
two  hundred  and  twenty  basketfuls  which  were  to  be  flung 
on  the  pyre.  The  morning  being  lowering,  the  corpse  was 
not  brought  out  till  toward  evening  ;  but  when  the  pyre  was 
kindled,  a  strong  breeze  sprang  up  and  the  corpse  was 
rapidly  consumed  ;  an  abundant  rain  then  fell  and  quenched 
the  embers,  so  that  Sulla's  good  fortune  seemed  to  attend 
him  to  the  last. 

Sulla  composed  his  own  epitaph,  the  purport  of  which 
was,  that  no  one  had  ever  exceeded  him  in  serving  his 
friends,  or  in  injuring  his  enemies.  He  was  a  man  doubt- 
less of  great  talents,  both  as  a  general  and  a  statesman,  but 
never  did  a  more  ruthless  soul  animate  a  human  body  than 
his ;  he  was  cruel,  less  from  natural  ferocity  than  from  a 
calm  contempt  of  human  nature.  He  thoroughly  despised 
mankind  ;  therefore,  he  was  an  aristocrat,*  and  therefore 
he  ventured  to  lay  down  his  power,  confident  that  none  would 
dare  to  attack  him,  and  not  in  reliance  on  his  soldiers  or 
his  Cornelians,  for  how  could  they  protect  him  against  the 
dagger  of  the  assassin  1  In  this  contempt  of  mankind  he 
resembled  Napoleon,  as  he  also  did  in  his  superstitious 
belief  in  fortune,  and  in  the  circumstance  of  having  left  the 
world  an  account  of  his  actions  written  by  himself;  but 
Napoleon  was  incapable  of  Sulla's  cold-blooded  cruelty. 

*  Let  us  not  be  misunderstood ;  we  mean  that  a  proud  man,  like 
Sulla,  who  thinks  thus  of  human  nature,  will  be  in  general  an  aristo- 
crat, —  not  that  pride  and  contempt  of  mankind  are  by  any  means  the 
necessary  characteristics  of  an  aristocracy.  The  demagogue  is  usually 
of  the  same  way  of  thinking,  but  he  is  mean  enough  to  flatter  those 
whom  he  despises.  The  honest  democrat,  on  the  contrary,  is  often  a 
man  of  the  most  amiable  and  generous  character,  and  his  error  is  that 
of  judging  of  others  by  himself  Bias'  maxim  ol  TtXsiov?  xaxoi  ('  most 
men  are  bad,'  that  is,  selfish)  should  always  be  present  to  the  mind  of 
a  politician,  and  he  should  think  how  they,  not  how  the  good,  would 
act  under  any  given  circumstances. 


SEDITION    OF    LEPIDUS.  353 


CHAPTER  v.* 

SEDITION  OF  LEPIDUS. SERTORIAN  WAR  IN  SPAIN. DEATH 

OF    SERTORIUS,  AND    END    OF    THE    WAR. SPARTACIAN    OR 

GLADIATORIAL    WAR. DEFEAT     AND    DEATH     OF     SPARTA- 

CUS. CONSULATE    OF    POMPEIUS  AND  CRASSUS. PIRATIC 

WAR.  REDUCTION    OF    CRETE. 

The  consuls  of  the  year  in  which  Sulla  died  were  Q. 
Lutatius  Catulus  of  the  Sullian,  and  M.  ^milius  Lepidus 
of  the  Marian  party  ;  the  latter  had  been  chosen  through  the 
influence  of  Pompeius,  contrary  to  the  opinion  of  Sulla, 
who  warned  him  of  the  consequences  of  what  he  had  done. 
Events  proved  the  dictator's  foresight,  for  no  sooner  was  the 
funeral  over  than  Lepidus  proposed  a  law  to  recall  the  pro- 
scribed, and  to  rescind  all  the  acts  of  Sulla.  The  first 
measure  seems  but  barely  just,  yet  it  would  in  fact  have  been 
a  renewal  of  the  civil  war.  The  senate,  therefore,  headed 
by  Catulus,  the  best  man  of  his  time,  opposed  it.  Lepidus 
retired  into  Etruria,  and  drew  together  an  army  of  the  pro- 
scribed and  others ;  and  the  senate,  to  prevent  a  conflict, 
gave  him  Cisalpine  Gaul  as  his  province.  But  at  the  end  of 
his  year  Lepidus,  leaving  M.  Junius  Brutus  in  charge  of 
Gaul,  led  his  troops  toward  Rome,  demanding  the  consulate 
a  second  time.  He  was  declared  an  enemy ;  Catulus  headed 
an  army  to  oppose  him,  while  Pompeius  was  sent  into  Gaul 
against  Brutus.  Lepidus  was  defeated  in  a  battle  near  the 
Mulvian  bridge,  and  driven  into  Etruria,  where  he  was 
routed  a  second  time  :  he  then  fled  to  Sardinia.  Pompeius 
meantime  had  reduced  Cisalpine  Gaul,  but  his  conduct  to 
Brutus  on  this  occasion  was  a  great  stain  on  his  character. 
Brutus  had  surrendered,  and  by  his  direction  had  retired  to 
a  town  on  the  Po :  the  next  day  there  came  a  man  named 
Geminius,  sent  by  Pompeius,  who  put  him  to  death.  Lepi- 
dus died  shortly  after  he  reached  Sardinia,  and  the  remains 
of  his  army  were  led  into  Spain  by  Perperna. 

The  Marian  cause  was  however  not  yet  despaired  of,  for 
Sertorius,  a  man  of  first-rate  talent,  still  upheld  it  in  Spain. 
After  the  ruin  of  the  cause  in  Italy,  through  the  folly  of  the 

*  Appian,  B.  C.  i.  107—121.  Velleius,  ii.  29—32.  Dion,  xxxvi. 
1 — ^27.     Plutarch,  Sertorius,  Pompeius,  and  Crassus. 

30*  ss 


354  HISTORY    OF    BOME. 

consul  Scipio,  Sertorius,  whose  advice  he  would  not  follow, 
set  out  with  all  haste  for  Spain,  of  which  he  had  been  ap- 
pointed praetor.  He  exerted  himself  to  gain  the  affections 
of  the  people  by  justice  and  affability,  and  by  the  reduction 
of  the  tributes ;  and,  knowing  that  Sulla  would  soon  pursue 
him,  he  despatched  a  force  of  six  thousand  men  to  guard  the 
Pyrenees  ;  but  treachery  aided  C.  Annius,  whom  Sulla  sent 
as  proconsul  (671)  to  Spain,  and  Sertorius,  unable  to  main- 
tain himself  there,  passed  over  to  Africa,  where,  aiding  one 
of  the  native  princes,  he  defeated  and  killed  Paccianus,  one 
of  Sulla's  officers.  While  considering  what  further  course 
he  should  take,  he  was  invited  by  the  Lusitanians  to  come 
and  be  their  leader  against  the  troops  of  Sulla.  He  gladly 
accepted  the  command  ;  and,  uniting  in  himself  the  talents 
of  a  Viriathus  and  of  a  Roman  general,  equally  adapted  for 
the  guerilla  and  the  regular  warfare,  he  speedily  routed  all 
the  Roman  commanders,  and  made  himself  master  of  the 
country  south  of  the  Ebro.  He  did  not  disdain  having 
recourse  to  art  to  establish  his  influence  over  the  natives. 
Having  been  presented  by  a  hunter  with  a  milk-white  fawn, 
he  tamed  it  so  that  it  would  come  when  called,  and  heeded 
not  the  noise  and  tumult  of  the  camp,  and  he  pretended  that 
it  had  been  a  gift  of  a  deity  to  him,  and  was  inspired,  and 
revealed  distant  or  future  events.  He  trained  his  Spanish 
troops  after  the  Roman  manner,  and,  having  collected  the 
children  of  the  principal  persons  into  the  town  of  Osca, 
(Huesca,)  he  had  them  instructed  in  Greek  and  Latin  litera- 
ture, that  they  might  be  fit  for  offices  of  state,  though  he  had 
in  this  a  further  object  in  view,  namely,  that  they  should  be 
hostages  for  the  fidelity  of  their  parents.  So  many  Romans 
of  the  Marian  party  had  repaired  to  him,  that  he  formed  a  '^ 
senate  of  three  hundred  members,  which  he  called  the  real  i 
senate,  in  opposition  to  that  of  Sulla.  Though  his  troops 
were  mostly  all  Spaniards,  he  gave  the  chief  commands  to 
the  Romans  :  yet  he  did  not  thereby  lose  the  affections  of 
the  natives. 

The  fame  of  Sertorius  reached  the  ears  of  Mithridates, 
who  was  now  again  at  war  with  the  Romans,  and  he  sent  to 
him  to  propose  an  alliance,  on  condition  of  all  the  country 
which  he  had  been  obliged  to  surrender  being  restored  to 
him.  Sertorius,  having  assembled  his  senate,  replied,  that 
Mithridates  might,  if  he  pleased,  occupy  Cappadocia  and 
Bithynia,  but  that  he  could  not  allow  him  to  hold  the  Roman 
province.     "  What  would  he  not  impose,"  said  the   king, 


SERTORIAN   WAR   IN   SPAIN. 


355 


**  if  sitting  in  Rome,  when,  thus  driven  to  the  edge  of  the 
Atlantic,  he  sets  limits  to  my  kingdom,  and  menaces  me 
'"with  war?"     The  alliance  however  was  concluded,  but  it 
eame  to  nought. 

1        Sulla  had  committed  the  war  in  Spain  to  Metellus  Pius  ; 

I  but  Metellus,  being  only  used  to  regular  warfare,  was  quite 
perplexed  by  the  irregular  system  adopted  by  Sertorius,  and 
he  was  so  hard  pressed  at  the  time  of  the  fall  of  Lepidus, 
that  Pompeius,  with  the  consent  of  the  senate,  led  his  army 
to  his  aid,  (676.)  Sertorius  at  the  same  time  received  an 
accession  of  force,  for  Perperna  having  passed  over  to  Spain 
with  fifty-three  cohorts,  thinking  to  carry  on  the  war  inde- 
pendently, his  men  forced  him  to  join  Sertorius. 

The  fame  of  Pompeius  was  so  great,  that  when  it  was 
known  that  he  was  entering  Spain  several  towns  declared  for 
him.  Sertorius  laid  siege  to  one  of  these  towns ;  Pompeius 
came  to  its  relief;  he  was  preparing  to  occupy  an  adjacent 
hill,  but  Sertorius  anticipated  him.  Thinking  then  that  he 
had  Sertorius  in  a  trap  between  his  army  and  the  town, 
Pompeius  sent  in  to  tell  the  people  to  mount  their  walls  and 
see  Sertorius  besieged.  Sertorius,  when  he  heard  this, 
laughed,  and  said  he  would  teach  Sulla's  pupil  that  a  general 
should  look  behind  as  well  as  before,  and  pointed  to  six 
thousand  men  he  had  left  in  his  camp.  Pompeius  feared  to 
stir ;  the  town  surrendered  before  his  face,  and  Sertorius 
burned  it,  to  prove  how  little  able  Pompeius  was  to  aid 
revolters. 

At  a  place  named  Sucro,  (Xucar,)  he  gave  Pompeius 
battle,  selecting  the  evening,  as  the  night  would  be  against 
the  enemy,  who  knew  not  the  country,  whether  victors  or 
vanquished.  He  drove  back  the  wing  opposed  to  him  under 
L.  Afranius,  then  sped  away  to  the  other,  where  Pompeius 
was  gaining  the  advantage,  and  defeated  him.  Finding  that 
Afranius  had  penetrated  to  his  camp  and  was  plundering  it, 
he  came  and  drove  off  his  troops  with  great  loss.  Next  day 
he  offered  battle  again;  but  just  then  Metellus  came  up. 
"  If  that  old  woman  *  had  not  come,"  said  he,   "  I  should 

*  Metellus  was  not  more  than  fifty-six  years  of  age,  but  he  had 
given  himself  up  to  luxurious  habits,  and  had  grown  very  corpulent. 
He  was  an  amiable  man.  When  Calidius,  who  had  been  the  means 
of  recalling  his  father,  stood  for  the  prsetorship,  Metellus  canvassed  for 
him,  and,  though  consul,  styled  him  hia  patron  and  the  protector  of 
his  mmily.    (Cicero,  Plancus.) 


356  HISTORY    OF    ROME. 

have  whipped  this  boy  well,  and  sent  him  back  to  Rome." 
He  then  retired. 

Sertorius  eventually  reduced  his  opponents  to  such  straits 
that  it  was  apprehended  he  would  even  invade  Italy.  Pom- 
peius  wrote  word,  that,  unless  supplied  with  money  from 
home,  he  could  not  stand ;  Metellus  offered  a  large  reward 
for  Sertorius'  head ;  and  envy  and  treachery  at  length  re- 
lieved them  from  all  their  fears.  Perperna  had  all  along 
been  jealous  of  Sertorius'  superiority ;  he  did  his  utmost  to 
alienate  the  affections  of  the  Spaniards  from  him  by  exer- 
cising severities  in  his  name,  and  he  organized  a  conspiracy 
against  him  among  the  Romans.  He  finally  invited  him  to 
a  feast  at  Osca,  and  there  he  was  fallen  on  and  murdered, 
(680.)  Perperna  hoped  to  be  able  to  take  his  place,  but 
the  Spaniards,  having  no  confidence  in  him,  submitted  to 
Pompeius  and  Metellus ;  and,  venturing  to  give  battle  with 
the  troops  he  had  remaining,  he  was  defeated  and  taken. 
He  had  found  among  the  papers  of  Sertorius  letters  from' 
several  of  the  leading  men  at  Rome,  inviting  him  to  invade 
Italy,  and  these  he  offered  to  Pompeius  to  save  his  life ;  but 
Pompeius  nobly  and  wisely  had  these  and  all  Sertorius' 
other  papers  burnt,  without  being  read  by  himself  or  any 
one  else,  and  he  put  Perperna  to  death  without  delay,  lest 
he  should  mention  names,  and  thus  give  occasion  to  new 
commotions. 

Thus,  after  a  continuance  of  eight  years,  terminated  the 
war  in  Spain.  Meantime  Italy  was  the  scene  of  a  contest 
of  a  most  sanguinary  and  atrocious  character. 

We  have  already  related  what  an  enormous  slave-popula- 
tion there  was  in  Italy,  and  how  hardly  the  slaves  were 
treated  by  their  masters.  The  passion  of  the  Roman  people 
for  the  combats  of  gladiators  had  increased  to  such  an  extent, 
that  it  was  become  a  kind  of  trade  to  train  gladiators  in 
schools,  and  hire  them  out  to  aBdiles,  and  all  who  wished  to 
gratify  the  people  with  their  combats ;  and  stout,  strong 
slaves  were  purchased  for  this  purpose.  The  cheapness  of 
provisions  in  Campania  made  it  a  great  seat  of  these  schools, 
and  here  those  in  the  school  of  one  Lentulus  Batuatus,  at 
Capua,  resolved  (679)  to  break  out,  and,  if  they  could  not 
escape  to  their  homes,  to  die  fighting  for  their  liberty,  rather 
than  slaughter  one  another  for  the  gratification  of  a  ferocious 
populace.  Their  plot  was  betrayed,  but  upwards  of  seventy 
got  but,  and,  arming  themselves  with  spits  and  cleavers  from 
the  adjoining  cook-shops,  they  broke  open  other  schools,  and 


spartaciaN  or  gladiatorial  war.  357 

freed  those  who  were  in  them.  Near  the  town  they  met  a 
wagon  laden  with  arms  for  the  use  of  the  schools  in  other 
towns;  and,  having  thus  armed  themselves,  they  took  a 
strong  position  on  Mount  Vesuvius.  Here  they  were  joined 
by  great  numbers  of  slaves,  and  they  routed  the  troops  sent 
from  Capua  to  attack  them,  and  got  possession  of  their  arms. 
'  The  chief  command  was  given  to  Spartacus,  a  Thracian  by 
birth,  who  had  served  in  the  Roman  army,  though  he  had 
been  afterwards  reduced  to  slavery  ;  and  under  him  were 
two  other  gladiators,  Crixus  and  CEnomaiis. 

The  praetor  Claudius  Pulcher  was  now  sent  against  them 
with  3000  men.  He  forced  them  to  retire  to  the  summit  of 
a  steep  hill,  which  had  but  one  narrow  approach.  This  he 
guarded  straitly ;  but  they  made  themselves  ladders  of  the 
branches  of  the  wild  vine,  with  which  the  hill  was  overgrown, 
and  let  themselves  down  on  the  other  side,  and  then  suddenly 
fell  on  and  routed  the  troops  of  the  praetor.  Spartacus  was 
now  joined  by  vast  numbers  of  the  slaves  who  were  employed 
as  herdsmen.  He  armed  them  with  such  weapons  as  fortune 
offered,  and  he  spread  his  ravages  over  all  Campania  and 
Lucania,  plundering  towns,  villages,  and  country-houses. 
He  defeated  the  praetor  P.  Varinius,  his  legate  Furius,  and 
his  colleague  Coscinius  :  but,  aware  that  they  would  not 
eventually  be  able  to  resist  the  disciplined  troops  of  Rome, 
Spartacus  proposed  that  they  should  march  for  the  Alps, 
and,  if  they  reached  them,  then  disperse  and  seek  their 
native  countries.  This  prudent  plan  was  rejected  by  the 
slaves,  who,  as  they  were  now  forty  thousand  strong,  looked 
forward  to  the  plunder  of  Italy.  The  senate  meantime, 
aware  of  the  importance  which  the  war  was  assuming,  di- 
rected (680)  the  consuls  L.  Gellius  and  Cn.  Lentulus  to  take 
the  field  against  them.  The  praetor  Arrius  engaging  Crixus 
(who,  with  the  Germans,  had  separated  from  Spartacus)  in 
Apulia,  killed  him  and  twenty  thousand  of  his  men  ;  but  he 
was  soon  after  himself  defeated  by  Spartacus,  as  also  were 
both  the  consuls.  Spartacus  was  now  preparing  to  march 
against  Rome  at  the  head  of  120,000  men  ;  but,  as  the 
consuls  had  posted  themselves  in  Picenum  to  oppose  him, 
he  gave  up  his  d^ign  and  fell  back  to  Thurii,  which  he 
made  his  head-quarters. 

The  war  against  Spartacus  had  lasted  nearly  three  years , 
the  hopes  of  the  Romans  were  in  the  praetor  M.  Licinius 
Crassus,  to  whom  it  was  now  committed,  (681.)  Six  legions 
were  raised,  to  which  he  joined  those  of  the  consuls  which 


358  HISTORY   OF    ROME. 

had  fought  so  ill,  having  previously  decimated  a  part  of 
them.  Spartacus  retired,  on  the  approach  of  Crassus,  to  the 
point  of  Rhegium,  where  he  agreed  with  some  Cilician  pi- 
rates to  transport  him  and  his  men  over  to  Sicily,  hoping  to 
be  able  to  rouse  the  slaves  there  again  to  arms.  The  pirates 
agreed,  took  the  money,  and  then  sailed  away,  leaving  them 
to  their  fate.  Crassus,  to  prevent  all  escape,  ran  a  ditch 
and  wall  across  from  sea  to  sea  at  the  neck  of  the  peninsula 
of  Bruttium ;  but  Spartacus,  taking  advantage  of  a  dark, 
stormy  night,  made  his  way  over  the  rampart.  A  body  of 
Gauls  or  Germans  which  separated  from  him  was  defeated 
by  Crassus,  who  soon  after  gave  Spartacus  himself  a  signal 
defeat ;  but  the  gladiator  in  his  turn  routed  the  quaestor  and 
legate  of  Crassus.  The  confidence  which  this  advantage 
gave  the  slaves  caused  their  ruin  ;  for  they  would  not  obey 
their  leader  and  continue  a  desultory  war,  but  insisted  on 
being  led  against  the  Romans.  Crassus  on  his  part  was 
equally  anxious  for  a  battle,  as  Pompeius,  who,  at  his  desire, 
had  been  recalled  by  the  senate,  was  now  on  his  way,  probar 
bly  to  rob  him  of  the  glory  of  ending  the  war.  The  slaves 
were  so  eager  for  the  combat  that  they  attacked  as  he  was 
pitching  his  camp.  A  general  engagement  ensued :  Spar- 
tacus fell  fighting  like  a  hero,  and  his  whole  army  was  cut 
to  pieces :  about  six  thousand  who  were  taken  were  hung  by 
Crassus  from  the  trees  along  the  road  from  Capua  to  Rome. 
Pompeius,  however,  came  in  for  some  share  of  the  glory, 
for  he  met  and  destroyed  a  body  of  five  thousand  who  were 
endeavoring  to  make  their  way  to  the  Alps.  The  Servile 
War,  in  which  it  is  said  sixty  thousand  slaves  perished,  thus 
terminated.  Pompeius  and  Metellus  triumphed  for  their 
successes  in  Spain  :  Crassus,  on  account  of  the  mean  con- 
dition of  his  foes,  only  sought  the  honor  of  an  ovation. 

The  enormous  wealth  of  Crassus,  and  his  eloquence,  gave 
him  great  influence  in  the  state,  and  he  was  one  of  the  chief 
props  of  the  aristocracy ;  Pompeius  on  the  other  hand 
sought  the  favor  of  the  people,  whose  idol  he  soon  became. 
Both  now  stood  for  the  consulate.  Pompeius,  though  he 
had  borne  no  previous  office,  as  the  Cornelian  law  required, 
and  was  several  years  under  the  legitiratte  age  of  forty-two 
years,  was  certain  of  his  election  :  while  Crassus  could  only 
succeed  by  Pompeius  asking  it  for  him  as  a  favor  to  him- 
self They  were  both  chosen,  but  their  year  (682)  passed 
away  in  strife  and  contention.  Before  they  went  out  of 
office  the  people  insisted  on  their  becoming  friends;    and 


PIRATIC   WAR.  369 

Crassus  declaring  that  he  did  not  think  it  unbecoming  in 
him  to  make  the  first  advances  to  one  on  whom  senate  and 
people  had  bestowed  such  honors  at  so  early  an  age,  they 
shook  hands  in  presence  of  the  people,  and  never  again  were 
,at  open  enmity.  In  this  consulate  the  tribunes  were  restored 
to  all  the  rights  and  powers  of  which  Sulla  had  deprived 
them  ;  the  measure  proceeded  from  Pompeius  with  a  view  to 
popular  favor.  With  his  consent  also  the  praetor  L.  Aurelius 
Cotta  put  the  judicial  power  into  the  hands  of  the  senators, 
knights,  and  the  aerarian  tribunes;*  for  the  senators  alone 
had  shown  themselves  as  corrupt  as  ever,  and  the  knights, 
while  the  right  had  been  exclusively  theirs,  had  been  no  bet- 
ter. It  was  hoped  that  three  separate  verdicts  might  be  more 
favorable  to  justice. 

Crassus  now  returned  to  his  money-bags,  and  was  wholly 
occupied  in  augmenting  his  already  enormous  wealth.  Pom- 
peius, whose  passion  was  glory,  kept  rather  out  of  the  public 
view,  rarely  entering  the  Forum,  and  when  he  did  visit  it 
being  environed  by  a  host  of  friends  and  clients.  At  length 
the  alarming  extent  to  which  the  pirates  of  Cilicia  now 
carried  their  depredations  gave  him  another  opportunity  of 
exercising  extensive  military  command. 

From  the  most  remote  ages  piracy  had  been  practised  in 
various  parts  of  the  Mediterranean  sea.  The  Athenians,  in 
the  days  of  their  might,  had  kept  it  down  in  the  ^gean ; 
the  Rhodians  had  followed  their  example ;  but  when  their 
naval  power  had  been  reduced  by  the  Romans,  the  Cili- 
cians,  who  had  been  encouraged  in  piracy  by  the  kings  of 
Egypt  and  Syria  in  their  contests  with  each  other,  carried 
on  the  system  to  an  extent  hitherto  unparalleled.  Not  only 
did  private  persons  join  in  this  profitable  trade,  but  whole 
towns  and  islands  shared  in  it.  The  slave-market  at  Delos 
was  abundantly  supplied  by  the  pirates:  the  temples  of 
Samothrace,  Claros,  and  other  renowned  sanctuaries  were 
plundered ;  towns  on  the  coasts  were  taken  and  sacked ; 
the  piratic  fleets  penetrated  to  the  straits  of  Gades.  They 
landed  in  Italy,  and  carried  off  the  Roman  magistrates  and 
the  senators  and  their  families,  whom  they  set  at  heavy 
ransoms.  They  even  had  the  audacity  to  make  an  attack  on 
the  port  of  Ostia :  the  corn-fleets  destined  for  Rome  were 
intercepted,  and  famine  menaced  the  city. 

'    *  These  were  wealthy  plebeians,  to  whom  the  quaestors  issued  the 
pay  of  the  soldiers. 


BISTORT   OF   ROME. 

Fleets  and  troops  had  at  various  times  been  sent  against 
the  pirates  to  no  effect.  In  674  P.  Servilius  put  to  sea  with 
a  strong  fleet,  and  having  routed  their  squadrons  of  light 
vessels,  took  several  of  their  towns  on  the  coast  of  Lycia, 
and  reduced  the  country  of  Isauria,  (077,)  whence  he  gained 
the  title  of  Isauricus,  But  he  had  hardly  triumphed  when  the 
sea  was  again  covered  with  swarms  of  pirates.  The  praetor 
M.  Antonius  (678)  was  then  sent  against  them,  with  most 
extensive  powers ;  but  he  effected  nothing ;  their  depreda- 
tions became  as  numerous  as  ever,  and  they  even  laid  siege 
to  the  city  of  Syracuse.  In  this  state  of  things  the  tribune 
A.  Gabinius,  (685,)  either  moved  by  Pompeius  or  hoping 
thereby  to  gain  his  favor,  proposed  that  to  one  of  the  con- 
sulars  should  be  given  the  command  against  the  pirates, 
with  absolute  power  for  three  years  over  the  whole  sea  and 
the  coasts  to  a  distance  of  fifty  miles  inland,  and  authority 
to  make  levies  and  take  money  for  the  war  out  of  the  treas- 
ury and  from  the  publicans  in  the  provinces,  and  to  raise 
what  number  of  men  he  pleased.  Though  no  one  was 
named,  all  knew  who  was  meant.  The  aristocratic  party  ex- 
erted themselves  to  the  utmost  against  the  law.  Gabinius 
was  near  being  killed  in  the  senate-house:  the  people  would 
then  have  massacred  the  senate,  but  they  fled ;  the  consul  C. 
Calpurnius  Piso  was  indebted  to  Gabinius  for  his  life.  When 
the  day  for  voting  came,  Pompeius  spoke,  affecting  to  de- 
cline the  invidious  honor ;  but  Gabinius,  as  of  course  had 
been  arranged,  called  on  the  people  to  elect  him,  and  on  him 
to  obey  the  voice  of  his  country.  The  tribunes  Trebelliiis 
and  L.  Roscius  attempted  to  interpose,  but, like  Tib.Gracchus, 
Gabinius  put  it  to  the  vote  to  deprive  Trebellius  of  his  of- 
fice :  when  seventeen  tribes  had  voted,  Trebellius  gave  over. 
Roscius,  as  he  could  not  be  heard,  held  up  two  fingers,  to 
intimate  that  he  proposed  that  two  persons  should  be  ap- 
pointed ;  but  such  a  shout  of  disapprobation  was  raised  that 
it  is  said  a  crow  flying  over  the  Forum  fell  down  stunned. 
Catulus,  the  chief  of  the  senate,  being  present,  Gabinius 
called  on  him  to  speak,  expecting  that  he  would  take  warn- 
ing by  the  fate  of  the  tribune,  and  not  oppose  the  law.  The 
people  listened  in  respectful  silence  while  \e  argued  against 
it ;  and  when,  in  conclusion,  having  extolled  Pompeius,  he 
asked  them  whom,  if  any  thing  should  happen  to  him, 
they  would  put  in  his  place,  the  whole  assembly  cried  out, 
"  Thyself,  Q,.  Catulus !  "  Finding  further  opposition  useless, 
he  retired,  and  the  law  was  passed.      Pompeius,  who  had 


PIRATIC    WAS.  352 

left  the  town,  returned  in  the  night,  and  next  day  he  called 
^n  assembly,  and  had  various  additions  made  to  the  law 
which  nearly  doubled  the  force  he  was  to  have,  givina  him 
500  ships,  120,000  foot  and  5000  horse,  with  24  senators 
to  command  as  legates  under  him.  Such  was  the  general 
confidence  m  his  talents  and  fortune,  that  the  prices  of  corn 
and  bread  fell  at  once  to  their  usual  level. 

Pompeius  lost  no  time  in  making  all  the  needful  arrange- 
raents.  He  placed  his  legates  with  divisions  of  ships  and 
troops  along  all  the  coasts  from  the  straits  of  Gades  to  the 
^gean ;  and  m  the  space  of  a  few  months  the  pirates  were 
destroyed  or  forced  to  take  refuge  in  their  strongholds  in 
<^iiicia.  He  sailed  thither  with  a  fleet  in  person,  and  the 
reputation  of  his  clemency  making  them  deem  it  their  safest 
course  to  submit,  they  surrendered  themselves,  their  strong- 
holds, their  ships,  and  stores;  and  thus,  in  forty-nine  days 
after  his  departure  from  Brundisium,  Pompeius  terminated 
the  Piratic  War.  The  pirates  were  not  deceived  in  their  ex- 
pectations :  he  placed  them  as  colonists  in  Soli,  Adana  and 
other  towns  of  Cilicia  which  had  been  depopulated  by  Ti- 
granes ;  and  even  Dyme,  in  Achaia,  received  a  portion  of 
them  to  cultivate  its  territory,  which  was  lying  waste. 

In  this  year  also  the  island  of  Crete  was  reduced.     The 
Cretans,  who  appear  so  contemptible  in  Grecian  history  that 
one  hardly  knows  how  to  give  credit  to  the  greatness  of  theif 
Mmos  m  the  mythic  ages,  had  of  late  become  of  rather  more 
importance.     M.  Antonius,  when  he  was  sent   against  the 
pirates,  hoping  to  acquire  plunder  and  fame  in  Crete    ac- 
cused the  Cretans,  probably  with  justice,  of  being  connected 
with  them,  and  proceeded  to  invade  the  island ;  but  he  was 
repulsed  with  disgrace.     The  Cretans,  knowing  that  a  storm 
would  burst  on  them  from  Rome,  tried  to  avert  it  by  an 
embassy,  laying  all  the  blame  on  Antonius ;  but  the  terms 
offered  by  the  senate  were  such  as  were  beyond  their  power 
to  fulfil,  and  they  had  to  prepare  for  war.     The  proconsul 
U.  Metellus  invaded  their  island,  (683:)  under  two  chiefs 
named   Lasthenes   and  Panares    they  held  out  bravely  for 
two  years.     The  war  was  one  of  extermination  on  the  part 
of  Metellus,  who    wasted  the  whole   island  with  fire   and 
svvord ;  and   having  at  length  reduced  it,  gained  the  honor 
of  a  triumph,  and  the  title  of  Crcticus,  (685.) 

31  T  T 


362  BISTORT   OF    ROME. 


CHAPTER  VI.» 

SECOND   MITHRIDATIC   WAR. THIRD    MITHRIDATIC    WAR. 

VICTORIES  OF  LUCULLUS. HIS  JUSTICE  TO  THE  PROVIN- 
CIAL^.   WAR  WITH  TIGRANES. DEFEAT  OF  TIGRANES. 

TAKING  OF  TIGRANOCERTA. INVASION  OF  ARMENIA. DE- 
FEAT OF  A  ROMAN  ARMY. INTRIGUES  OF  LUCULLUs'  ENE- 
MIES AT    ROME. MANILIAN  LAW. POMPEIUS    IN  ASIA. 

DEFEAT    OF    MITHRIDATES. —POMPEIUS  IN  ARMENIA  I IN 

ALBANIA  AND    IBERIA  : IN  SYRIA  AND  THE  HOLY  LAND. 

^EATH     OP     MITHRIDATES.  RETURN     AND     TRIUMPH     OF 

POMPEIUS. 

While  the  Roman  arms  were  occupied  in  Europe  by  the 
Sertorian  and  the  other  wars  above  related,  the  contest  with 
Mithridates  for  the  dominion  of  Asia  still  continued. 

Sulla  had  left  as  propraetor  in  Asia  L.  Licinius  Murena, 
with  Fimbria's  two  legions  under  him.  As  was  the  usual 
practice,  Murena,  in  hopes  of  a  triumph,  tried  to  stir  up  a 
war.  Archelaus,  who  had  fled  to  him  when  he  found  him- 
self suspected  by  his  master,  furnishing  him  with  pretexts, 
he  invaded  the  territories  of  Mithridates,  who,  instead  of 
having  recourse  to  arms,  sent  an  embassy  to  Rome  to  com- 
plain, and  Q,.  Calidius  came  out  with  orders  to  Murena  to 
desist  from  attacking  a  king  with  whom  there  was  a  treaty. 
After  a  private  conference  with  Calidius,  however,  Murena 
took  no  notice  of  the  public  order ;  and  then  Mithridates, 
finding  that  negotiation  was  of  no  use,  took  the  field  against 
him,  and  forced  him  to  retire  into  Phrygia.  Sulla,  displeased 
at  seeing  the  treaty  he  had  made  thus  despised,  sent  out 
A.  Gabinius  with  orders  in  earnest  to  Murena,  and  thus  the 
war  ended  for  the  present.  Murena  had  the  honor  of  a 
triumph,  but  how  merited  it  is  not  easy  to  see. 

Mithridates  was  well  aware  that  he  would  soon  be  at 
war  again  ;  and  he  found  the  period  after  the  death  of  Sulla 
so  favorable,  while  the  Roman  arms  were  engaged  in  so 
many  quarters,  that  he  resolved  to  be  the  aggressor.  At  his 
impulsion  his  son-in-law  Tigranes,  of  Armenia,  invaded 
Cappadocia,  and  swept  away  three  hundred  thousand  of  its 

*  Appian,  Mithridatica,  64  to  the  end.  Dion,  xxxvi.  28  to  the  end  ; 
xxxvii.  1—23.     Plut.,  Lucullus  and  Pompeius. 


THIRD   MITHRIDATIC    WAR.  363 

inhabitants,  whom  he  sent  to  people  the  city  of  Tigranocerta, 
which  he  had  lately  built.  Mithridates  himself  invaded 
Bithynia,  which  its  last  king,  Nicomedes  II.,  dying  without 
heirs,  (678,)  had  left  to  the  Roman  people. 

The  Pontic  monarch,  knowing  the  contest  in  which  he 
was  now  to  engage  to  be  for  his  very  existence,  made  all 
the  preparations  calculated  to  insure  its  success.  He  sent 
to  Spain  and  formed  an  alliance  with  Sertorius  ;  he  also 
made  alliances  with  all  the  peoples  round  the  Euxine  ;  du- 
ring eighteen  months  he  had  timber  felled  in  the  forests  of 
Pontus,  and  ships  of  war  built;  he  hired  able  seamen  in 
Phoenicia,  and  laid  up  magazines  of  corn  in  the  towns  of 
the  coast ;  he  armed  and  disciplined  his  troops  in  the  Roman 
manner ;  and  his  army,  we  are  told,  amounted  to  120,000 
foot,  16,000  horse,  with  100  scythed  chariots.  Still  these 
troops  were  Asiatics,  and  little  able  to  cope  with  the  legions 
of  Rome. 

The  war  against  Mithridates  was  committed  to  the  con- 
suls of  the  year,  (678,)  M.  Aurelius  Cotta  and  L.  LiciniusLu- 
cullus,  the  latter  of  whom  had  been  Sulla's  quaestor  in  the 
first  war.  Cotta  was  soon  driven  by  Mithridates  out  of  his 
province,  Bithynia,  and  he  was  besieged  in  Chalcedon. 
When  Lucullus  came  out,  he  brought  with  him  one  legion 
from  Rome,  which,  joined  with  the  two  Fimbrian  and  two 
others  already  there,  gave  him  a  force  of  thirty  thousand 
foot  and  sixteen  hundred  horse.  Mithridates,  being  forced 
by  him  to  raise  the  siege  of  Chalcedony  led  his  troops 
against  Cyzicus,  a  town  lying  in  an  island  joined  by  two 
bridges  to  the  main  land.  Lucullus  followed  him  thither, 
and  Mithridates,  (by  the  treacherous  advice  of  one  of  the 
Romans  sent  him  by  Sertorius,  who  assured  him  that  the 
Fimbrian  legions  which  had  served  under  that  general 
would  desert,)  let  him  without  opposition  occupy  a  hill, 
which  enabled  him  to  cut  off  his  communication  with  the 
interior,  so  that  he  must  get  all  his  supplies  by  sea,  and  the 
winter  was  now  at  hand. 

The  defence  of  the  Cyzicenes  was  most  heroic  ;  mounds, 
mines,  rams,  towers,  and  all  the  modes  of  attack  then 
known  were  employed  against  them  in  vain.  Mithridates, 
finding  his  cavalry  useless,  and  that  it  was  suffering  from 
want  of  forage,  sent  away  it  and  the  beasts  of  burden,  but 
Lucullus  fell  on  it  at  the  passage  of  the  Ryndacus,  killed 
a  part,  and  took  15,000  men  and  6000  horses  with  all  the 
beasts  of  burden.     A  storm  now  came  on  and  shattered 


366  HISTORY   OF   ROME. 

their  assurances  of  revolt  when  LucuUus  should  appear. 
When  admitted  (682)  to  an  audience  with  the  king,  he 
rudely  desired  him  to  surrender  Mithridates,  or  else  to  pre- 
pare for  war.  The  offended  despot  set  the  Romans  at  defi- 
ance, and  Clodius  departed.  Lucullus  then  returned  to 
Pontus,  and  laid  siege  to  and  took  the  city  of  Sinope,  (683;) 
and  leaving  one  legion  under  Sornatius  to  keep  possession 
of  the  country,  he  set  out  himself  with  two  legions  and  five 
hundred  horse  to  make  war  on  the  potent  king  of  Armenia. 
He  reached  the  Euphrates,  and  having  passed  it  advanced 
to  the  Tigris  unopposed ;  then  turning  northwards  he  en- 
tered the  mountains,  directing  his  course  for  Tigranocerta. 
Meantime  Tigranes  was  ignorant  of  the  approach  of  the 
Romans,  for,  as  he  had  cut  off  the  head  of  the  first  who 
brought  him  tidings  of  it,  as  a  spreader  of  false  alarms,  all 
others  were  deterred.  At  length  Mithrobarzanes,  one  of  his 
friends,  venturing  to  assure  him  of  the  fact,  he  was  ordered 
to  take  a  body  of  horse  and  ride  down  the  Romans,  and  to 
bring  their  leader  captive ;  Mithrobarzanes,  however,  was 
defeated  and  slain,  and  Lucullus  laid  siege  to  Tigranocerta. 
Tigranes,  finding  the  danger  so  near,  summoned  troops 
from  all  parts  of  his  empire,  and  assembled  an  immense 
army,  containing,  it  is  said,  150,000  heavy  and  20,000  light 
infantry,  55,000  horse,  of  which  17,000  were  in  full  armor, 
and  35,000  pioneers,  and  advanced  to  the  relief  of  his  capi- 
tal. Mithridates  and  his  general  Taxiles,  who  knew  by 
experience  how  ill  suited  Asiatic  troops  were  to  cope  with 
Europaeans,  strongly  urged  Tigranes  not  to  risk  a  general 
engagement,  but  to  cut  off  the  supplies,  and  thus  reduce  the 
Romans  by  famine.  But  the  despot  laughed  these  prudent 
counsels  to  scorn,  and  descended  into  the  plain ;  and  when 
he  saw  the  ^hiall  appearance  of  the  Roman  army,  he  cried, 
•*  If  they  are  come  as  ambassadors  they  are  too  many,  if  as 
enemies  too  few."  Never,  however,  was  defeat  more  deci- 
sive than  that  of  the  Armenian  king;  he  himself  was  one 
of  the  first  to  fly  :  the  earth  for  miles  was  covered  with  the 
slain  and  with  spoils,  and  the  Romans  declared  themselves 
ashamed  of  having  employed  their  arms  against  such  cow- 
ardly slaves.  Lucullus  gave  all  the  booty  to  his  soldiers,  and 
then  resumed  the  siege  of  Tigranocerta,  which  its  mingled 
population,  who  had  been  dragged  from  their  homes  to  peo- 
ple it,  gladly  put  into  his  hands.  Having  taken  possession 
of  the  royal  treasures  for  himself,  he  gave  his  soldiers  per- 
mission to  pillage  the  town,  and  he  aflerwards  gave  them  a 


INVASION    OF    ARMENIA.  367 

donation  of  800  drachmas  a  man.  The  inhabitants  of  Ti- 
granocerta  were  allowed  to  return  to  their  respective  coun- 
tries. 

The  fame  of  the  justice  and  moderation  of  Lucullus 
caused  several  of  the  native  princes  to  declare  for  him,  (684,) 
and  even  the  Parthian  king  sent  an  embassy  to  propose  an 
alliance  ;  but  Lucullus,  having  discovered  that  he  was  dealing 
double,  being  at  the  same  time  in  treaty  with  Tigranes, 
resolved  to  make  war  on  him,  and  thus  perhaps  acquire  the 
glory  of  having  overcome  the  three  greatest  monarchs  in  the 
world.  He  sent  to  Sornatius,  desiring  him  to  join  him  with 
the  troops  from  Pontus ;  but  these  positively  refused  to 
march ;  and  Lucullus'  own  army,  hearing  of  their  refusal, 
applauded  their  conduct  and  followed  their  example.  Lu- 
cullus, thus  forced  to  give  up  all  hopes  of  glory  from  a  Par- 
thian war,  as  it  was  now  midsummer,  invaded  Armenia  anew  ; 
but,  when  he  had  crossed  the  ridges  of  Taurus,  and  entered 
on  the  plains,  he  was  greatly  dismayed  to  find  the  corn  still 
green  in  that  elevated  land.  He  however  obtained  a  suffi- 
cient supply  in  the  villages,  and,  having  vainly  offered  battle 
to  the  troops  of  Tigranes,  he  advanced  to  lay  siege  to  Ar- 
taxata,  the  former  capital  of  Armenia.  As  Tigranes'  harem 
was  in  that  city,  he  could  not  calmly  see  it  invested,  and  he 
gave  Lucullus  battle  on  the  road  to  it ;  but  skill  and  disci- 
pline triumphed  as  usual  over  numbers,  and  he  sustained  a 
total  defeat.  Lucullus  was  desirous  of  following  up  his  sue-, 
cess  and  conquering  the  whole  country,  but  it  was  now  the 
autumnal  equinox,  and  the  snow  began  already  to  fall ;  the 
rivers  were  frozen  and  difficult  to  cross,  and  the  soldiers 
having  advanced  for  a  few  days  mutinied  and  refused  to  go 
any  further.  He  implored  them  to  remain  till  they  had  taken 
Artaxata ;  but  finding  his  entreaties  to  no  purpose  he  evac- 
uated the  country,  and,  entering  Mygdonia,  besieged  and 
stormed  the  wealthy  city  of  Nisibis. 

Here  ended  the  glory  of  Lucullus  :  he  was  disliked  by  his 
whole  army  ;  his  extreme  pride  disgusted  his  officers ;  the 
soldiers  hated  him  for  the  rigorous  discipline  which  he  main- 
tained, and  his  want  of  affability  ;  his  having  appropriated  to 
himself  so  much  of  the  spoils  of  Tigranocerta  and  other 
places  was  another  cause  of  discontent ;  and  his  own  brother- 
in-law,  Clodius,  mortified  at  not  being  made  more  of  than 
he  was,  added  continual  fuel  to  the  flame,  especially  address- 
ing himself  to  those  who  had  served  under  Fimbria. 

Meantime  Mithridates  had  returned  to  Pontus,  where  he 


366  HISTORY   OF   ROME. 

their  assurances  of  revolt  when  Lucullus  should  appear. 
When  admitted  (682)  to  an  audience  with  the  king,  he 
rudely  desired  him  to  surrender  Mithridates,  or  else  to  pre- 
pare for  war.  The  offended  despot  set  the  Romans  at  defi- 
ance, and  Clodius  departed.  Lucullus  then  returned  to 
Pontus,  and  laid  siege  to  and  took  the  city  of  Sinope,  (683 ;) 
and  leaving  one  legion  under  Sornatius  to  keep  possession 
of  the  country,  he  set  out  himself  with  two  legions  and  five 
hundred  horse  to  make  war  on  the  potent  king  of  Armenia. 
He  reached  the  Euphrates,  and  having  passed  it  advanced 
to  the  Tigris  unopposed ;  then  turning  northwards  he  en- 
tered the  mountains,  directing  his  course  for  Tigranocerta. 
Meantime  Tigranes  was  ignorant  of  the  approach  of  the 
Romans,  for,  as  he  had  cut  off  the  head  of  the  first  who 
brought  him  tidings  of  it,  as  a  spreader  of  false  alarms,  all 
others  were  deterred.  At  length  Mithrobarzanes,  one  of  his 
friends,  venturing  to  assure  him  of  the  fact,  he  was  ordered 
to  take  a  body  of  horse  and  ride  down  the  Romans,  and  to 
bring  their  leader  captive ;  Mithrobarzanes,  however,  was 
defeated  and  slain,  and  Lucullus  laid  siege  to  Tigranocerta. 
Tigranes,  finding  the  danger  so  near,  summoned  troops 
from  all  parts  of  his  empire,  and  assembled  an  immense 
army,  containing,  it  is  said,  150,000  heavy  and  20,000  light 
infantry,  55,000  horse,  of  which  17,000  were  in  full  armor, 
and  35,000  pioneers,  and  advanced  to  the  relief  of  his  capi- 
tal. Mithridates  and  his  general  Taxiles,  who  knew  by 
experience  how  ill  suited  Asiatic  troops  were  to  cope  with 
Europaeans,  strongly  urged  Tigranes  not  to  risk  a  general 
engagement,  but  to  cut  off  the  supplies,  and  thus  reduce  the 
Romans  by  famine.  But  the  despot  laughed  these  prudent 
counsels  to  scorn,  and  descended  into  the  plain ;  and  when 
he  saw  the  ^Inall  appearance  of  the  Roman  army,  he  cried, 
**  If  they  are  come  as  ambassadors  they  are  too  many,  if  as 
enemies  too  few."  Never,  however,  was  defeat  more  deci- 
sive than  that  of  the  Armenian  king ;  he  himself  was  one 
of  the  first  to  fly  :  the  earth  for  miles  was  covered  with  the 
slain  and  with  spoils,  and  the  Romans  declared  themselves 
ashamed  of  having  employed  their  arms  against  such  cow- 
ardly slaves.  Lucullus  gave  all  the  booty  to  his  soldiers,  and 
then  resumed  the  siege  of  Tigranocerta,  which  its  mingled 
population,  who  had  been  dragged  from  their  homes  to  peo- 
ple it,  gladly  put  into  his  hands.  Having  taken  possession 
of  the  royal  treasures  for  himself,  he  gave  his  soldiers  per- 
mission to  pillage  the  town,  and  he  aft-erwards  gave  them  a 


INVASION    OF    ARMENIA.  367 

donation  of  800  drachmas  a  man.  The  inhabitants  of  Ti-^ 
granocerta  were  allowed  to  return  to  their  respective  coun- 
tries. 

The  fame  of  the  justice  and  moderation  of  Lucullus 
caused  several  of  the  native  princes  to  declare  for  him,  (684,) 
and  even  the  Parthian  king  sent  an  embassy  to  propose  an 
alliance  ;  but  Lucullus,  having  discovered  that  he  was  dealing 
double,  being  at  the  same  time  in  treaty  with  Tigranes, 
resolved  to  make  war  on  him,  and  thus  perhaps  acquire  the 
glory  of  having  overcome  the  three  greatest  monarchs  in  the 
world.  He  sent  to  Sornatius,  desiring  him  to  join  him  with 
the  troops  from  Pontus ;  but  these  positively  refused  to 
march ;  and  Lucullus'  own  army,  hearing  of  their  refusal, 
applauded  their  conduct  and  followed  their  example.  Lu- 
cullus, thus  forced  to  give  up  all  hopes  of  glory  from  a  Par- 
thian war,  as  it  was  now  midsummer,  invaded  Armenia  anew  ; 
but,  when  he  had  crossed  the  ridges  of  Taurus,  and  entered 
on  the  plains,  he  was  greatly  dismayed  to  find  the  corn  still 
green  in  that  elevated  land.  He  however  obtained  a  suffi- 
cient supply  in  the  villages,  and,  having  vainly  offered  battle 
to  the  troops  of  Tigranes,  he  advanced  to  lay  siege  to  Ar- 
taxata,  the  former  capital  of  Armenia.  As  Tigranes'  harem 
was  in  that  city,  he  could  not  calmly  see  it  invested,  and  he 
gave  Lucullus  battle  on  the  road  to  it ;  but  skill  and  disci- 
pline triumphed  as  usual  over  numbers,  and  he  sustained  a 
total  defeat.  Lucullus  was  desirous  of  following  up  his  suc- 
cess and  conquering  the  whole  country,  but  it  was  now  the 
autumnal  equinox,  and  the  snow  began  already  to  fall ;  the 
rivers  were  frozen  and  difficult  to  cross,  and  the  soldiers 
having  advanced  for  a  few  days  mutinied  and  refused  to  go 
any  further.  He  implored  them  to  remain  till  they  had  taken 
Artaxata ;  but  finding  his  entreaties  to  no  purpose  he  evac- 
uated the  country,  and,  entering  Mygdonia,  besieged  and 
stormed  the  wealthy  city  of  Nisibis. 

Here  ended  the  glory  of  Lucullus  :  he  was  disliked  by  his 
whole  army  ;  his  extreme  pride  disgusted  his  officers ;  the 
soldiers  hated  him  for  the  rigorous  discipline  which  he  main- 
tained, and  his  want  of  affability  ;  his  having  appropriated  to 
himself  so  much  of  the  spoils  of  Tigranocerta  and  other 
places  was  another  cause  of  discontent ;  and  his  own  brother- 
in-law,  Clodius,  mortified  at  not  being  made  more  of  than 
he  was,  added  continual  fuel  to  the  flame,  especially  address- 
ing himself  to  those  who  had  served  under  Fimbria. 

Meantime  Mithridates  had  returned  to  Pontus,  where  he 


■%t 


368  BISTORT   OF    ROBIE. 

attacked  and  defeated  Fabius,  who  commanded  there,  and 
shut  him  up  in  Cabira.  Triarius,  who  was  on  his  way  from 
the  province  to  join  Lucullus,  came  to  the  relief  of  Fabius 
and  drove  off  Mithridates,  whom  he  followed  to  Comagena, 
where  he  gave  him  a  defeat.  Both  sides  now  retired  to 
winter  quarters.  In  the  spring  (685)  Mithridates,  knowing 
that  Triarius  had  sent  to  summon  Lucullus  from  Nisibis  to 
his  aid,  did  his  utmost  to  bring  on  an  action  before  he  should 
arrive :  for  this  purpose  he  despatched  a  part  of  his  army  to 
attack  a  fortress  named  Dadasa,  where  the  baggage  of  the 
Romans  lay.  The  soldiers,  fearing  the  loss  of  their  prop- 
erty, forced  Triarius  to  lead  them  out.  Before  they  had 
time  to  form,  the  barbarians  assailed  them  on  all  sides,  and 
they  would  have  been  utterly  destroyed,  but  that  one  of  them, 
feigning  to  be  one  of  Mithridates'  soldiers,  went  up  to  him 
and  gave  him  a  wound  in  the  thigh.  He  was  instantly  slain, 
but  the  confusion  caused  by  the  danger  of  the  king  enabled 
many  of  the  Romans  to  escape.  Their  loss  however  is 
stated  at  seven  thousand  men,  among  whom  were  twenty- 
four  tribunes  and  one  hundred  and  fifty  centurions.  It  was 
rare  indeed  for  the  Romans  to  lose  so  many  officers  since  the 
days  of  Hannibal. 

Lucullus'  enemies  at  Rome  were  meantime  not  idle :  they 
loudly  accused  him  of  protracting  the  war  from  ambition  and 
avarice,  and  a  decree  of  the  people  was  procured,  (686,)  under 
the  pretext  of  returning  to  the  old  practice  of  shortening  the 
duration  of  military  command,  assigning  to  the  consul  M. 
Acilius  Glabrio  the  province  of  Bithynia  and  Pontus,  and  di- 
recting that  the  Fimbrians  and  the  oldest  of  the  troops  in  Asia 
should  have  their  discharge.  Lucullus  was  encamped  oppo- 
site the  army  of  Mithridates  when  the  proclamation  of  Gla- 
brio arrived,  announcing  that  he  was  deprived  of  his  command, 
giving  their  discharge  to  those  who  were  serving  under  him, 
and  menacing  with  the  loss  of  their  property  those  who  did  not 
obey  the  proclamation.  The  Fimbrian  soldiers  immediately 
left  Lucullus ;  he  could  do  nothing  with  those  who  remained; 
Q,.  Marcius  Rex,  the  consul  of  the  preceding  year,  who  was 
in  Cilicia,  declined  giving  him  any  aid,  alleging  that  his 
troops  would  not  obey  him,  but  probably  influenced  by 
Clodius,  who  was  also  his  brother-in-law,  and  to  whom  he 
had  given  the  command  of  the  fleet.  Glabrio  remained 
inactive  in  Bithynia,  and  the  two  kings  recovered  the  whole 
of  their  dominions. 

Such  was  the  state  of  things  in  the  East  when  the  tribune 


MANILIAN   LAW.  369 

G.  Manilius,  with  the  private  view,  it  is  said,*  of  gaining  the 
favor  and  protection  of  Pompeius,  brought  in  a  bill,  giving 
him,  in  addition  to  the  command  and  the  forces  he  had 
against  the  pirates,  the  conduct  of  the  war  against  Tigranes 
and  Mithridates,  with  the  troops  and  provinces  which  Lucul- 
lus  had,  and  also  those  of  the  proconsuls  Glabrio  and  Mar- 
cius,  —  in  short,  placing  the  whole  power  of  the  republic  at 
his  disposal.  This  measure  was  viewed  with  just  dread  and 
apprehension  by  the  aristocracy,  who  plainly  saw  that  the 
giddy,  thoughtless  populace  were  thus  creating  a  monarch, 
and  they  opposed  it  to  the  utmost.  Hortensius  and  Catulus 
employed  all  their  eloquence  against  it.  "  Look  out,"  cried 
the  latter  to  the  senate  from  the  Rostra,  "  look  out  for  some 
hill  and  precipice  like  our  ancestors,  whither  you  may  fly  to 
preserve  our  liberty."f  The  bill  was  supported  by  C.  Julius 
Caesar  and  by  M.  Tullius  Cicero,  — not,  says  the  historian, j: 
out  of  regard  to  Pompeius  or  that  they  thought  it  good  for 
the  state,  but  because  they  knew  it  must  pass ;  the  former, 
who  had  already  formed  the  plan  he  afterwards  executed, 
wished  to  court  the  populace  and  establish  a  precedent,  and, 
by  heaping  honors  on  Pompeius,  to  make  him  the  sooner 
odious  to  the  people ;  the  latter,  a  vain  man,  wanted  to  dis- 
play his  own  importance,  by  showing  that  whatever  side  he 
took  would  have  the  superiority.  The  bill  was  passed  by  all 
the  tribes,  and  the  Republic  was  now  virtually  at  an  end. 

Pompeius  received  the  intelligence  of  his  appointment 
with  complaints  of  not  being  allowed  to  retire  into  private 
life,  for  which  he  longed  so  much ;  but  his  very  friends  were 
disgusted  with  this  hypocrisy,  as  his  actions  soon  proved  it 
to  be.  His  first  care  was  to  reverse  all  the  acts  of  Lucullus, 
to  prove  to  all  the  people  there  that  his  power  was  at  an 
end ;  he  also  called  all  his  troops  from  him,  and  took  espe- 
cial care  to  reenroll  the  Fimbrians,  who  had  shown  them- 
selves so  refractory  to  him.  The  two  commanders  then  had 
a  conference  in  a  plain  of  Galatia.  They  at  first  behaved  to 
one  another  with  great  courtesy ;  but  they  soon  gave  vent 

*  "  Semper  venaliset  alienae  minister  potentiaB  "  is  Velleius'  character 
of  Manilius. 

t  Plut.,  Pomp.  30.  It  is  doubtful  whether  the  allusion  is  to  the  Sa- 
cred Mount  or  the  Capitol. 

t  Dion,  xxxvi.  26.  This  writer  is  frequently  unjust  toward  Cicero 
The  orator  on  this  occasion  seems  to  have  sought  the  favor  of  Pom- 
peius; perhaps  he  really  thought  the  measure  necessary.  He  was  also 
at  all  times  anxious  to  gain  favor  with  the  knights,  who  were  now  hos- 
tile to  Lucullus. 

u  u 


370  HISTORT    OF    ROME. 

to  their  ill  feeling,  Pompeius  reproaching  Lucullus  with  his 
avarice,  the  latter  replying  by  likening  his  rival  to  the  bird 
that  comes  to  feed  on  the  carcasses  of  those  slain,  by  others, 
affirming  that  he  was  doing  now  what  he  had  before  done  in 
the  cases  of  Lepidus,  Sertorius,  and  Spartacus,  who  had 
been  vanquished  by  Catulus,  Metellus,  and  Crassus,  when  he 
came  to  share  their  fame,  —  a  reproach  in  which  there  was 
no  little  truth.  Pompeius  took  all  Lucullus'  troops  from 
him  but  sixteen  hundred  men,  whom  he  knew  to  be  inimical 
to  him  and  would  be  useless  to  himself 

Mithridates,  aware  of  the  immense  force  that  could  now 
be  brought  against  him,  sent  to  ask  on  what  terms  peace 
might  be  had.  The  answer  was,  the  surrender  of  the  de- 
serters and  his  own  unconditional  submission.  As  worse 
could  not  be  expected  in  any  case,  he  resolved  to  try  once 
more  the  fate  of  war ;  and,  assembling  the  deserters,  and  as- 
suring them  that  it  was  on  their  account  he  refused  peace, 
he  Swore  eternal  hostility  to  Rome :  he  then  retired  before 
the  Romans,  laying  the  country  waste.  Pompeius  entered 
Armenia,  and  Mithrid&tes,  fearing  for  it,  came  and  encamped 
on  a  hill  opposite  him,  cutting  off  his  supplies,  but  giving  no 
opportunity  of  fighting.  His  position  was  so  strong  that 
Pompeius  did  not  venture  to  attack  him  ;  by  decamping, 
however,  he  drew  him  down,  and  then,  laying  an  ambuscade, 
cut  off  several  of  his  men.  Soon  after,  Pompeius  being 
joined  by  the  troops  of  Marcius,  Mithridates  broke  up  by 
night  and  marched  for  Tigranes'  part  of  Armenia.  Pom- 
peius pursued,  anxious  to  bring  him  to  a  battle,  but,  Mith- 
ridates encamping  by  day  and  marching  by  night,  he 
could  not  succeed  till  they  came  to  the  frontiers  :  then 
taking  advantage  of  tlie  midday  repose  of  the  barbarians, 
Pompeius  marched  on  before  them,  and  coming  to  a  hollow 
between  hills  through  which  they  were  to  pass,  he  halted, 
and  placed  his  troops  on  the  hills.  At  nightfall  the  barba- 
rians set  forth,  unsuspicious  of  danger ;  it  was  dark  night 
when  they  entered  the  hollow ;  suddenly  their  ears  were 
assailed  by  the  sound  of  the  trumpets  of  the  Romans,  and 
the  clashing  of  their  arms  and  their  shouts  over  their  heads, 
and  arrows,  darts,  and  stones  were  showered  down  upon 
them,  and  then  the  Romans  fell  on  with  their  swords  and 
pila.  The  slaughter  was  great  and  promiscuous,  none  could 
make  any  resistance  in  the  dark  ;  and  when  the  moon  at 
length  rose,  it  favored  the  Romans  by  being  behind  their 
backs,  and  thus  lengthening  their  shadows. 


POMPEIUS    IN    ASIA.  3T1 

Mithridates,  having  escaped,  was  proceeding  to  Tigranes  ; 
hut  this  king,  irritated  by  his  misfortunes,  and  attributing 
the  conduct  of  his  son,  who  was  in  rebellion  against  him,  to 
the  councils  of  Mithridates,  refused  him  an  asylum,  and 
even,  it  is  said,  set  a  reward  on  his  head.  He  therefore 
turned  and  directed  his  course  for  Colchis,  whence  he  went 
on  to  the  Mseotis  and  Bosporus,  where  he  caused  his  son 
Machares,  who  had  joined  the  Romans,  to  be  put  to  death, 
and  employed  himself  in  making  further  preparations  for 
continuing  the  war.  Pompeius,  when  he  found  he  had 
passed  the  Phasis,  gave  up  all  thoughts  of  pursuit,  and  em- 
ployed himself  in  founding  a  city  named  Nicopolis  in  the 
country  where  he  had  gained  his  victory,  settling  in  it^his 
wounded  and  invalid  soldiers,  and  such  of  the  neighboring 
people  as  chose  to  make  it  their  abode. 

The  young  Tigranes  had  fled  to  Phraates  king  of  the 
Parthians,  who  was  his  father-in-law ;  and,  as  Phraates  had 
formed  an  alliance  with  Pompeius,  and  promised  to  make  a 
diversion  in  his  favor,  he  now  joined  the  young  prince  in  an 
invasion  of  Armenia.  They  advanced  and  laid  siege  to  Ar- 
taxata :  the  old  king  fled  to  the  mountains ;  and  Phraates, 
leaving  a  part  of  his  forces  with  Tigranes  to  continue  the 
siege,  which  seemed  likely  to  be  tedious,  returned  to  his 
own  dominions.  The  elder  Tigranes  then  came  down  and 
defeated  his  son,  who  at  first  was  flying  to  Mithridates  ;  but 
learning  that  he  was  himself  a  fugitive,  he  repaired  to  Pom- 
peius, and  became  his  guide  into  Armenia.  Pompeius  had 
passed  the  Araxes  and  was  approaching  Artaxata,  when 
Tigranes,  whose  proposals  for  peace  had  been  hitherto  frus- 
trated by  his  son,  embraced  the  resolution  of  surrendering 
his  capital,  and  coming  himself  as  a  suppliant  to  the  Ro- 
man general.  He  laid  aside  most  of  the  ensigns  of  his  dignity, 
and  approaching  the  camp  on  horseback,  was  preparing 
after  the  oriental  fashion  to  ride  into  it,  when  a  lictor  met 
and  told  him  that  it  was  not  permitted  to  any  one  to  enter  a 
Roman  camp  on  horseback.  He  then  advanced  on  foot, 
and  coming  to  the  tribunal  of  Pompeius,  cast  himself  on  the 
ground  before  him.  The  Roman  general  raised  and  con- 
soled the  humbled  monarch ;  while  his  son,  who  was  sitting 
beside  the  tribunal,  did  not  rise  or  take  any  notice  of  him, 
and  when  Pompeius  invited  the  king  to  supper  the  young 
prince  did  not  appear  at  it ;  conduct  which  drew  on  him  the 
aversion  of  Pompeius,  who,  next  day,  having  heard  both 
parties,  decided   that  the  king  should  retain   his  paternal 


372  HISTOBT  OF   ROME. 

dominions,  giving  up  all  his  conquests  and  paying  6000  tal- 
ents, and  the  prince  have  the  provinces  of  Gordyene  and 
Sophene.  As  the  treasures  were  in  this  last  country,  th0 
prince  claimed  them,  and  he  irritated  Pompeius  so  much, 
that  at  length  he  laid  him  in  bonds  and  reserved  him  for  his 
triumph. 

Pompeius  wintered  in  Armenia,  forming  three  separate 
camps  on  the  banks  of  the  Cyrnus,  (Kur.)  OroBses,  king  of 
the  neighboring  Albanians,  having  been  in  alliance  with  the 
young  Tigranes,  and  fearing  that  his  country  would  be  in- 
vaded in  the  spring,  resolved  to  fall  on  the  Romans  while 
they  were  separate.  In  the  very  depth  of  the  winter,  there- 
fore, he  made  three  simultaneous  attacks  on  their  camps ; 
but  his  troops  were  every  where  driven  off  with  loss,  and  be 
was  obliged  to  sue  for  a  truce. 
.  When  spring  came,  (687,)  Pompeius  advanced  into  the 
'  ^country  of  the  Iberians,  whose  king  gave  hostages  and  made 
a  peace.  Pompeius  then  entered  Colchis,  intending  to 
pursue  Mithridates  ;  but  when  he  heard  what  difficulties  he 
would  have  to  encounter,  he  gave  up  the  project,  and  return- 
ing to  Albania  again  defeated  OrcEses.  He  then  made  peace 
with  the  Albanians  and  several  of  the  tribes  that  dwelt 
toward  the  Caspian.  Returning  to  Pontus,  he  received  the 
submission  of  several  of  Mithridates'  governors  and  officers; 
large  treasures  were  put  into  his  hands,  all  of  which,  unlike 
Lucullus,  he  delivered  up  to  the  qusestors ;  and  he  sent 
Mithridates'  concubines  uninjured  to  their  parents  and 
friends. 

Having  regulated  the  affairs  of  this  part  of  Asia,  Pompe- 
ius proceeded  to  take  possession  of  the  part  of  Syria  which 
had  been  conquered  by  Tigranes.  All  the  cities  submitted 
at  his  approach ;  the  Arabian  emirs  did  him  homage,  and  he 
reduced  Syria  to  a  province.  In  the  summer  of  the  follow- 
ing year  (688)  he  had  to  return  to  Armenia  to  the  aid  of 
Tigranes,  who  had  been  attacked  by  Phraates.  .  He  thence 
its  proceeded  to  Pontus,  where  he  wintered. 

At  Damascus  the  next  year  (689)  Pompeius  was  waited 
on  by  the  two  brothers  Hyrcanus  and  Aristobulus,  who  were 
contending  for  the  high-priesthood  at  Jerusalem,  and  now 
appeared  as  suitors  for  the  favor  of  the  powerful  Roman. 
As  Pompeius  inclined  to  the  former,  Aristobulus  secretly 
retired  to  the  Holy  City,  and  the  Roman  legions  entered 
Judaea  for  the  first  time.  Knowing  his  inability  to  resist, 
Aristobulus  gave  himself  up,  to  remain  as  a  prisoner  till  the 


BEira  OF  MITHRIDATES.  873 

gates  of  Jerusalem  should  be  opened  and  his  treasures  de- 
livered up  to  the  Romans.  But  when  A.  Gabinius,  who  was 
sent  to  take  possession  of  the  city,  appeared,  the  gates  were 
closed  against  him :  Pompeius,  accusing  Aristobulus  of  treach- 
ery, put  him  into  close  confinement  and  advanced  to  lay 
siege  to  the  city.  Timber  for  the  construction  of  machines 
was  brought  from  Tyre  ;  but,  though  the  friends  of  Hyrcanus 
admitted  the  Romans  into  the  lower  town,  the  temple  was 
so  bravely  defended  that  the  siege  lasted  three  months  ;  and 
it  was  only  by  taking  advantage  of  the  Sabbath,  on  which 
the  superstition  of  the  Jews  would  not  let  them  defend  them- 
selves, and  storming  on  that  day,  that  it  was  taken.  Pompeius, 
it  is  said,  entered  into  the  Holy  of  Holies  of  the  temple,  but 
he  took  away  none  of  the  sacred  treasures ;  the  priesthood 
was  given  to  Hyrcanus ;  all  the  conquests  made  by  his 
predecessors  were  taken  from  him,  and  an  annual  tribute 
was  imposed  on  the  land. 

When  Pompeius  was  about  to  form  the  siege  of  Jerusa- 
lem, tidings  came  to  him  of  the  death  of  Mithridates.  This 
persevering  monarch,  undismayed  by  his  reverses,  had,  it  is 
said,  formed  the  bold  plan  of  effecting  a  union  of  the  various 
tribes  and  nations  dwelling  from  the'Maeotis  to  the  Alps,  and 
at  their  head  descending  on  Italy  while  Pompeius  was  away 
in  Syria.  His  friends  and  officers,  however,  shrank  from 
this  daring  project,  and  thought  rather  of  making  their  peace 
with  the  Romans ;  some  of  them  had  even  carried  off  his 
children,  and  put  them  into  Pompeius'  hands.  This  made 
the  old  king  suspicious  and  cruel,  and  he  put  some  of  his 
sons  to  death.  His  son  Pharnaces,  fearing  for  himself,  and 
expecting  to  get  the  kingdom  from  the  Romans,  conspired 
against  him  in  the  city  of  Panticapasum,  where  they  were 
residing.  Mithridates  on  learning  the  conspiracy  sent  his 
guards  to  seize  the  rebel,  but  they  went  over  to  his  side,  and 
the  citizens  also  declared  for  him.  Having  vainly  sent  to 
ask  permission  to  depart,  and  seeing  that  all  was  now  over, 
the  aged  monarch  retired  into  the  palace,  and,  taking  the 
poison  which  he  had  always  ready,  he  gave  part  of  it  to  his 
two  virgin  daughters  and  drank  the  remainder  himself  The 
princesses  died  immediately ;  but  his  body  had,  it  is  said, 
been  so  fortified  with  antidotes,  that  the  poison  took  little 
effect  on  him.  He  then  implored  a  Gallic  chief  not  to  let 
him  endure  the  disgrace  of  being  led  in  triumph,  and  the 
Gaul  despatched  him  with  his  sword. 

Thus  perished  in  the  seventy-third  year  of  his  age,  and 
32 


374  ''**t;HISTORY  OF   ROME.    , 

after  a  contest  of  twenty-seven  years  with  Rome,  the  king 
of  Pontus,  a  man  certainly  to  be  classed  among  those  whom 
we  denominate  great.  Enterprising,  ambitious,  of  great 
strength  and  dexterity  of  mind  and  body,  quick  to  discern 
advantages,  unscrupulous  as  to  means,  utterly  careless  of 
human  life,  and  therefore  at  times  barbarously  cruel,  hi« 
greatness  was  that  of  an  Asiatic,  and  his  character  will  find 
many  a  parallel,  though  not  many  an  equal,  in  Oriental  his- 
tory. As  a  proof  of  his  mental  powers,  we  are  told  that, 
ruling  over  twenty-two  different  peoples,  he  could  converse 
with  each  of  them  in  their  own  language. 

Pompeius,  giving  up  all  thoughts  of  Arabia,  of  which  he 
had  proposed  the  conquest,  returned  to  Pontus.  At  Amisus 
he  was  met  by  envoys  bearing  the  submission  of  Pharnaces, 
with  presents  and  the  embalmed  body  of  Mithridates  and 
his  royal  ornaments.  The  Roman  general,  who  warred  not 
with  the  dead,  sent  the  corpse  for  interment  to  Sinope.  He 
confirmed  Pharnaces  in  the  kingdom  of  Bosporus,  and  re- 
duced Pontus  to  a  province  ;  and,  having  wintered  at  Ephe- 
sus,  he  set  out  (690)  on  his  return  for  Italy.  Great  appre- 
hension was  felt  at  Rome,  as  it  was  surely  expected  that, 
elate  with  conquest  and  possessed  of  such  power,  he  would 
lead  his  army  to  the  city  and  make  himself  absolute.  But, 
true  to  his  character,  on  landing  at  Brundisium  he  dismissed 
his  soldiers  to  their  homes,  only  requiring  them  to  appear  at 
his  triumph,  and  then,  attended  by  his  friends  alone,  he  set 
out  for  Rome. 

His  triumph,  which  took  place  the  following  year  (691) 
and  lasted  for  two  days,  was  the  most  magnificent  Rome  had 
as  yet  seen.  The  names  of  the  numerous  kings  and  peoples 
he  had  warred  with  were  proclaimed  aloud ;  the  immense 
treasures  and  spoils  he  had  won  were  displayed  ;  pictures  of 
towns  and  battles  and  other  events  were  borne  along ;  the 
captive  princes,  Tigranes,  Aristobulus,  and  others,  with  their 
families,  walked  in  procession ;  the  images  of  Mithridates, 
the  elder  Tigranes,  and  other  absent  princes  were  carried ; 
a  table  declared  the  numbers  of  ships  that  had  been  taken 
and  cities  founded,  and  the  names  of  the  kings  who  had 
been  conquered.  Pompeius  appeared  in  a  stately  chariot, 
followed  by  his  officers  and  his  whole  army,  horse  and  foot. 
Contrary  to  the  usual  practice,  none  of  the  captive  princes 
were  put  to  death.  The  money  brought  into  the  treasury 
amounted  to  20,000  talents,  besides  16,000  which  he  had 


catilina's  conspiracy.  375 

distributed  among  his  soldiers,  the  lowest  sum  given  to  any 
of  them  being  1500  drachmas. 

Even  before  he  came  to  Rome,  a  decree  had  been  passed 
allowing  him  to  wear  a  triumphal  robe  at  the  Circensian 
games,  the  prcstexta  at  all  others,  and  a  laurel  wreath  at  all. 
He  had  however  the  modesty  to  take  advantage  but  once  of 
this  decree. 


CHAPTER  VH.* 

CATILINA's    conspiracy. ARREST    AND    EXECUTION    OP  THE 

CONSPIRATORS.  DEFEAT      AND     DEATH     OF     CATILINA.  — 

HONORS      GIVEN      TO      CICERO. FACTIOUS      ATTEMPTS      AT 

ROME. CLODIUS  VIOLATES    THE    MYSTERIES  OF    THE  BONA 

DEA. HIS    TRIAL. 

While  Pompeius  was  absent  in  the  East,  a  conspiracy  was 
discovered  and  suppressed  at  Rome,  which  from  the  rank 
of  those  engaged  in  it,  and  the  atrocious  means  resorted  to 
to  accomplish  the  most  nefarious  objects,  sets  in  a  strong 
light  the  state  of  moral  corruption  among  the  Roman  nobil- 
ity of  this  time,  and  shows  that  no  form  of  government  but 
the  single  power  of  monarchy  was  adequate  to  maintaining 
the  state. 

L.  Sergius  Catilina,  a  member  of  one  of  the  oldest  patri- 
cian families,  was  a  man  of  very  great  powers  of  mind  and 
body,  but  from  his  youth  familiar  with  every  species  of 
crime.  In  the  time  of  Sulla  he  was  the  murderer  of  his 
own  brother ;  he  afterwards,  it  was  firmly  believed,  put  his 
own  son  out  of  the  way,  to  make  I'oom  for  his  marriage 
with  a  beautiful  but  abandoned  woman  ;  and  he  was  ac- 
cused of  various  other  enormities.  He  had  been  prastor 
(686)  in  Africa,  and  he  aspired  to  the  consulate  ;  but  he 
only  regarded  this  high  office  as  the  means  of  relieving  his 
desperate  circumstances,  by  renewing  scenes  of  proscription, 
bloodshed,  and  robbery,  similar  to  those  in  which  he  had 
acted  in  the  days  of  Sulla. 

Catilina  had  collected  around  him  a  vast  number  of  des- 

*  Sallust,  Catilina.  Appian,  B.  C.  ii.  1 — 7.  Dion,  xxxvii.  24 — 46. 
PJut.  Cicero  and  Caesar. 


376  BISTORT   OF   ROME. 

peradoes  of  every  description,  —  all  bankrupts  in  fame  and 
fortune,  all  who  had  been  punished  or  feared  punishment  for 
their  crimes,  all  in  fine  who  had  any  thing  to  hope  from  a 
revolution.  He  sought  by  every  means  to  inveigle  young 
men  of  family,  and  for  this  purpose  spared  no  expense  to 
gratify  their  propensities  and  vices.  But  it  was  not  such 
alone  that  were  engaged  in  his  designs ;  they  were  shared  in 
by  some  of  the  first  men  in  Rome,  magistrates,  senators,  and 
knights.  In  an  assembly  which  met  on  one  occasion  at  his 
house,  when  he  unfolded  his  views,  there  were  present,  of 
the  senatorian  order,  P.  Lentulus  Sura,  C.  Cethegus,  P.  and 
Ser.  Sulla,  (all  of  the  Cornelian  gens,)  L.  Cassius  Longinus, 
P.  Autronius,  L.  Vargunteius,  d.  Annius,  M.  Porcius  Laeca, 
L.  Calpurnius  Bestia,  and  Q.  Curius;  of  the  equestrian, 
M.  Fulvius  Nobilior,  L.  Statilius,  P.  Gabinius  Capito,  C. 
Cornelius.  It  was  thought  too  that  M.  Licinius  Crassus  and 
C.  Julius  Csesar  knew  at  least  of  the  conspiracy.  Several 
women  of  rank  were  also  engaged  in  it,  as  Catilina  expected 
them  to  be  useful  in  raising  the  slaves,  in  firing  the  city,  in 
gaining  over,  or,  if  not,  in  murdering,  their  husbands.  The 
young  noblemen  in  general  were  favorably  disposed  to  it; 
several  leading  men  in  the  colonies  and  municipal  towns 
joined  in  it ;  and  it  was  reckoned  that  Sulla's  soldiers,  who 
had  dissipated  their  gains,  would  be  easily  brought  to  take 
arms  again,  along  with  those  whom  he  had  robbed  of  their 
lands. 

The  meeting  alluded  to  was  held  about  the  kalends  of 
June,  688 ;  and  Catilina,  having  addressed  the  conspirators 
in  the  strain  usual  on  such  occasions,  representing  them  as 
the  most  injured  and  unhappy  of  mortals,  and  the  possessors 
of  wealth  as  the  most  oppressive  of  tyrants,  called  on  them 
to  aid  in  every  way  to  gain  him  the  consulate ;  promising  in 
return  the  abolition  of  debts,  proscription  of  the  wealthy,  the 
possession  of  the  lucrative  priesthoods  and  magistracies,  and 
rapine  and  plunder  of  every  kind.  It  was  even  reported, 
that  before  they  separated  they  bound  themselves  by  an  oath, 
drinking  human  blood  mingled  with  wine. 

A.  woman  was  the  cause  of  the  affair  coming  to  light. 
Curius,  who  carried  on  an  intrigue  with  a  lady  named 
Fulvia,  had  been  of  late  rather  slighted  by  her,  as  he  was 
not  able  from  poverty  to  make  her  presents  as  heretofore ; 
but  he  now  completely  altered  his  tone,  boasting  of  the 
wealth  he  should  have,  and  treating  her  with  the  greatest 
insolence.     Fulvia,  guessing  that  there  must  be  some  secret 


catilina's  conspiracy,  377 

'^ause  for  such  a  change,  never  ceased  till  she  had  drawn 
ihe  truth  from  him;  and  she  made  known  what  she  had 
heard  without  naming  her  author.  The  nobility,  whose  pride 
had  hitherto  made  them  adverse  to  Cicero's  getting  the  con- 
sulate, as  he  was  what  was  called  a  new  man,  now  being 
menaced  with  ruin,  and  knowing  him  to  be  the  only  man 
able  effectually  to  oppose  Catilina,  gave  him  their  support, 
and  he  and  C,  Antonius  were  elected. 

Catilina,  though  disappointed,  did  not  despair ;  he  resolved 
to  stand  for  the  consulate  again,  (689;)  he  exerted  himself 
to  gain  more  associates  at  Rome  and  throughout  Italy  ;  and, 
having  borrowed  money  on  his  own  and  his  friends'  credit, 
he  sent  it  to  FaesulsB  to  one  C.  Mallius,  one  of  Sulla's  old 
officers,  to  enable  him  to  raise  troops.  He  also  made  every 
effort  to  have  Cicero  taken  off;  but  this  able  consul  went 
always  well  guarded,  and  having,  through  Fulvia,  gained  over 
Curius,  he  received  regular  information  of  Catilina's  designs; 
he  also,  by  giving  his  colleague  the  choice  of  provinces,  se- 
.cured  his  fidelity  to  the  state. 

The  day  of  election  came,  and  Catilina  was  again  foiled. 
He  now  became  desperate  and  resolved  on  war,  for  which 
purpose  he  sent  Mallius  back  to  Faesulae,  C.  Julius  to  Apulia, 
and  one  Septimius  to  Picenum,  and  others  to  other  places ; 
then,  assembling  the  principal  conspirators  and  upbraiding 
them  with  their  inertness,  he  declared  his  intention  of  set- 
ting out  for  Mallius'  army,  but  that  he  must  first  have  an 
end  put  to  Cicero,  who  impeded  all  his  plans.  A  senator 
and  a  knight,  L.  Vargunteius  and  C.  Cornelius,  forthwith 
offered  to  go  that  very  night  with  armed  men  to  the  con- 
sul's house,  and,  under  pretence  of  saluting,  to  murder  him. 
Curius,  as  no  time  was  to  be  lost,  hastened  to  Fulvia ;  the 
consul  was  warned  in  time,  and  his  doors  were  closed 
against  the  assassins.  Cicero,  having  also  ascertained  that 
Mallius  was  actually  in  arms,  saw  that  there  was  no  further 
room  for  delay  ;  he  laid  the  whole  matter  before  the  senate, 
and  it  was  decreed  in  the  usual  form  that  the  consuls 
should  take  measures  for  the  safety  of  the  state.  The  prae- 
tors and  other  officers  were  sent  to  Apulia  and  elsewhere  to 
provide  against  emergencies ;  guards  were  placed  at  Rome  ; 
the  gladiators  were  removed  to  Capua  and  other  towns ; 
rewards  were  offered  for  information,  to  a  slave  his  freedom 
and  100,000  sesterces,  to  a  freeman  double  that  sum  and  a 
pardon. 

At  length  Catilina,  as  if  he  were  the  victim  of  persecution, 
32*  TV 


378  HIStORT   OF    ROME. 

boldly  entered  the  senate  and  faced  his  foes.  Cicero's  anger 
was  roused  at  the  sight  of  him  ;  he  poured  forth  a  flood  of 
indignant  oratory :  the  overwhelmed  traitor  muttered  some 
sentences  of  exculpation ;  the  whole  senate  called  him  an 
enemy  and  a  parricide ;  he  then  flung  off  the  mask ;  in  a 
fury  he  cried  out  that  he  would  quench  the  flames  raised 
around  him  in  the  ruins  of  his  country,  and  hurried  to  his 
home.  Then,  having  directed  Lentulus  and  the  others  how 
to  act,  he  set  out  that  night  with  a  few  companions  for  the 
camp  of  Mallius.  On  his  way  he  wrote  to  several  consul ars, 
saying  that  he  was  going  into  exile  at  Massilia  :  it  was,  how- 
ever, soon  ascertained  that  he  had  entered  the  rebel  camp 
with  fasces  and  other  consular  ornaments.  The  senate  then 
proclaimed  him  and  Mallius  public  enemies,  and  offered  a 
pardon  to  all  those,  not  guilty  of  capital  crimes,  who  should 
quit  them  before  a  certain  day ;  but  neither  this  nor  the 
former  decree  had  the  slightest  effect,  such  was  the  general 
appetite  for  change,  for  blood,  and  for  rapine. 

Lentulus  meantime  was  exerting  himself  to  gain  associates, 
and,  as  there  happened  to  be  ambassadors  from  the  Allobroges 
then  at  Rome,  — come,  as  usual,  to  try  if  they  could  get  re- 
dress from  the  senate  for  the  oppression  of  the  Roman  gov- 
ernors,—  he  had  them  sounded  by  oneUmbrenus,  and,  when 
they  eagerly  caught  at  hopes  of  relief,  Umbrenus  introduced 
them  to  Gabinius  and  informed  them  of  the  conspiracy, 
telling  them  the  names  of  those  engaged  in  it,  and  mention- 
ing among  others  many  innocent  persons.  They  agreed 
on  the  part  of  their  nation  to  join  it ;  but  afterwards,  when 
they  reflected  coolly  on  the  matter,  they  thought  the  course 
too  hazardous,  and  went  and  revealed  all  they  knew  to 
Q,.  Fabius  Sanga,  the  patron  of  their  state,  Sanga  instantly 
informed  Cicero,  who  directed  that  they  should  pretend 
the  greatest  zeal  for  the  plot,  and  learn  as  much  of  it  as 
they  could. 

The  conspirators  had  now  arranged  their  plan.  On  a 
certain  day  Bestia,  who  was  a  tribune,  was  to  harangue  the 
people,  throwing  all  the  blame  of  the  civil  war  now  on  the 
eve  of  breaking  out  on  Cicero;  the  following  night  Statilius 
and  Gabinius  with  their  bands  were  to  fire  the  city  in  twelve 
places,  while  Cethegus  should  watch  at  Cicero's  doors,  others 
at  those  of  other  men  of  rank,  to  kill  them  as  they  came 
out ;  the  young  noblemen  were  to  murder  their  fathers ;  and 
thus,  having  filled  the  city  with  blood  and  tumult,  the  whole 
party  were  to  break  out  and  join  Gatilina. 


catilina's  conspiracy.  379 

By  Cicero's  direction  the  Allobroges  required  an  oath, 
sealed  by  the  principal  conspirators,  to  take  home  to  their 
people.  This  was  readily  given  them,  and  one  T.  Voltur- 
cius  was  directed  to  go  with  them  and  introduce  them,  on 
the  way,  to  Catilina,  to  whom  he  was  also  the  bearer  of  a 
letter  from  Lentulus.  They  left  Rome  by  night,  and  when 
they  came  to  the  Mulvian  bridge  they  were  assailed  by  the 
troops  which  they  knew  the  consul  had  placed  there  :  they 
gave  themselves  up  at  once,  as  also  did  Volturcius,  seeing 
resistance  was  in  vain,  and  all  were  brought  back  to  Rome. 
Cicero,  having  now  sufficient  evidence  in  his  hands,  sent  for 
the  principal  conspirators  and  arrested  them.  He  then  called 
together  the  senate ;  the  letters  were  read,  the  Allobroges 
gave  their  evidence  ;  Volturcius,  being  promised  life  and 
liberty,  made  a  full  confession;  Lentulus  and  the  rest  ac- 
knowledged their  seals.  It, was  decreed  that  Lentulus,  who 
was  praetor,  should  lay  down  his  office,  and  that  he  and  all 
the  rest  should  be  held  in  free  custody.  The  tide  of  popular 
feeling  turned  completely  against  the  conspirators,  when  it 
was  known  that  they  had  designed  to  fire  the  city,  and  every 
voice  now  extolled  the  consul. 

In  a  day  or  two  after,  one  L.  Tarquinius  was  taken  on 
his  way  to  Catilina,  and,  being  promised  his  life,  told  the 
same  story  with  Volturcius,  but  added,  that  he  was  sent  by 
M.  Crassus  to  tell  Catilina  not  to  be  cast  down  at  the  arrest 
of  Lentulus  and  the  others,  but  on  the  contrary  to  advance 
with  all  speed  toward  the  city.  The  information  perhaps 
was  true,  but  such  was  the  power  and  influence  his  wealth 
gave  Crassus,  and  so  many  of  the  senators  were  in  his  debt, 
that  it  was  at  once  voted  false,  and  Tarquinius  was  ordered 
to  be  laid  in  chains  till  he  should  tell  at  whose  instigation  he 
acted.  Some  thought  it  was  a  plan  of  Autronius,  that,  by 
implicating  Crassus,  he  might  save  himself  and  the  others ; 
others,  that  it  was  done  by  Cicero  to  keep  Crassus  from 
taking  up  the  cause  of  criminals,  as  was  his  wont.  Crassus 
himself  affected  to  take  this  last  view  of  the  case.  Catulus 
and  Piso,  it  is  said,  vainly  tried  to  induce  the  consul  to  im- 
plicate Csesar ;  *  yet  the  opinion  of  his  being  concerned  was 
so  strong,  that  some  of  the  knights  menaced  him  with  their 
swords  as  he  came  out  of  the  senate. 

Some  days  after,  (the  nones  of  December,)  Cicero,  having 

*  Sallust,  Catil.  49.  Perhaps  they  only  wanted  him  to  produce  Xb/e 
esvidence  he  possessed. 


3S0  HISTORY   OF   ROME. 

ascertained  that  Lentulus  and  Cethegus  were  making  every 
exertion  to  induce  the  slaves  and  the  rabble  to  rise  in  their 
favor,  again  assembled  the  senate,  and  put  the  question  what 
should  be  done  with  those  in  custody,  as  they  had  already 
declared  them  guilty  of  treason.  D.  Junius  Silanus,  consul 
elect,  being,  as  was  usual,  asked  the  first,  voted  for  capital 
punishment.  When  the  consul  put  the  question  to  C.  Caesar, 
praetor  elect,  he  rose,  and,  in  an  artful  speech,  dissuaded 
from  severity,  and  proposed  that  their  properties  should  be 
confiscated,  themselves  confined  in  the  municipal  towns,  and 
that  any  one  who  should  speak  in  their  favor  to  the  senate 
or  people,  should  be  held  to  have  acted  against  the  interests 
of  the  republic.  This  speech  caused  many  to  waver ;  but 
when  M.  Porcius  Cato,  one  of  the  tribunes,  rose,  and  dis- 
played the  guilt  of  the  conspirators  in  its  true  colors,  and  the 
danger  and  impolicy  of  ill-timed  clemency,  their  execution 
was  decided  on  almost  unanimously.  Cicero,  that  very  day, 
having  directed  the  Capital  Triumvirs  to  have  every  thing 
ready,  himself  conducted  Lentulus  to  the  prison,  where  he 
was  immediately  strangled  by  the  officers,  as  also  were 
Cethegus,  Statilius,  Gabinius,  and  Cceparius.  When  Cicero 
came  forth,  he  said,  using  a  common  euphemism,  "  They 
have  lived ! "  in  order  to  extinguish  the  hopes  of  such  of 
their  confederates  as  were  in  the  Forum.  The  populace 
then  gave  a  loose  to  their  joy,  and  followed  him  home, 
calling  him  the  savior  and  founder  of  the  city  ;  and  it  being 
now  evening,  lights  were  set  at  the  doors  throughout  all  the 
streets,  and  the  women  stood  on  the  roofs  of  the  houses  to 
gaze  on  him  as  he  passed. 

Catilina  had  meantime  augmented  his  forces  from  two 
thousand  men  to  two  legions,  of  which  however  only  a  fourth 
were  properly  armed.  On  the  approach  of  Antonius,  who 
was  sent  against  him,  he  fell  back  into  the  mountains, 
avoiding  an  action  till  he  should  hear  from  Rome.  He  also 
rejected  the  slaves,  who  at  first  were  flocking  to  him  in  great 
numbers.  But  when  the  news  of  the  execution  of  Lentulus 
and  the  others  came,  and  he  found  his  forces  melting 
away,  —  as  those  whose  only  object  had  been  plunder, 
thinking  the  case  now  desperate,  were  going  off  every 
day,  —  he  tried  to  escape  into  Cisalpine  Gaul  with  those  who 
remained.  But  Q,.  Metellus  Celer,  who  commanded  in 
Picenum,  being  informed,  by  deserters,  of  his  design,  came 
and  encamped  at  the  foot  of  the  mountains.  Catilina,  seeing 
escape  thus  cut  off,  resolved  to  give  battle  at  once  to  Anto- 


FACTIOUS    ATTEMPTS    AT    ROME.  381 

nius.  He  chose  a  position  between  hills  on  one  side,  and 
rocks  on  the  other  ;  and,  having  placed  his  best  men  in 
front,  and  sent  away. all  the  horses,  that  the  danger  might  be 
equal,  he  prepared  for  action.  Antonius,  being  either  really 
ill  of  the  gout,  or  making  it  a  pretext,  gave  the  command  to 
his  legate  M.  Petreius.  Catilina  and  his  men  fought  with 
desperation,  and  were  slain  to  a  man  ;  and  the  loss  on  the 
part  of  the  victors  was  also  considerable,  (690.) 

The  suppression  of  this  conspiracy  was  doubtless  the  most 
iilorious  act  of  Cicero's  life ;  and,  could  he  have  controlled 
ids  vanity,  which  was  inordinate,  and  left  more  to  others  the 
task  of  praising  it,  his  fame  would  perhaps  be  purer.  Pom- 
peius  declared  more  than  once  in  the  senate  that  the  safety 
of  the  state  was  due  to  Cicero,  and  that  he  had  vainly  been 
entitled  to  claim  a  third  triumph  if  Cicero  had  not  preserved 
a  republic  for  him  to  triumph  in.  Crassus  said  on  one 
occasion  that  he  was  indebted  to  Cicero  for  his  being  now  a 
senator,  a  citizen,  free,  and  alive ;  and  that  whenever  he 
looked  at  his  wife,  his  house,  his  country,  he  beheld  his 
good  deeds.  L.  Gellius  declared  in  the  senate  that  he  de- 
served a  civic  crown;  and  the  censor  L.  Aurelius  Cotta 
had  a  supplication  *  decreed  him,  —  an  honor  never  before 
granted  to  a  gowned  citizen.  Finally,  he  was  styled  by  Q,. 
Catulus  the  first  of  the  senate,  Father  of  his  Country  ;  and 
several  of  the  senators,  even  Cato  included,  joined  in  the 
appellation ;  and  when,  on  going  out  of  office,  he  was  pre- 
vented by  the  tribune  Q,.  Metellus  Nepos  from  haranguing 
the  people,  as  was  usual,  before  he  made  oath  that  he  had 
kept  the  laws,  he  swore  aloud  that,  through  him  alone,  the 
republic  and  the  city  had  been  saved ;  and  the  whole  people 
averred  that  he  had  sworn  the  truth. 

But  the  party  who  wished  the  subversion  of  the  state  per- 
sisted in  their  eflforts  against  him.  The  same  Metellus, 
urged  on  by  Caesar,  it  is  said,  proposed  a  bill  to  recall  Pom- 
peius  with  his  army,  to  end  the  seditions  caused  by  the 
attempt  of  Catilina  and  the  tyranny  of  Cicero.  As  this  was 
evidently  directed  against  the  senate,  Cato  tried  at  first,  in 
that  assembly,  to  soothe  Metellus,  reminding  him  of  the 
aristocratic  feelings  always  shown  by  his  family  ;  but  when 
he  found  that  this  only  increased  his  insolence,  he  changed 

*  The  supplication  or  thanksgiving  (the  probable  origin  of  the  Te 
Deum  of  modern  times)  was  usually  given  only  on  occasion  of  vic- 
tories over  foreign  enemies  in  the  field. 


382  HISTORY  OF   ROME. 

his  tone,  and  loudly  declared  that  while  he  lived  Pompeius 
should  not  bring  an  army  into  the  city  ;  and  he  pointed  out 
to  the  senate  the  evident  danger  of  the  proposed  measure. 

When  the  day  of  voting  came,  Metellus  filled  the  Forum 
with  strangers,  gladiators,  and  slaves,  being  resolved  to  carry 
his  bill  by  force.  Cato's  family  and  friends  were  under 
great  apprehension  for  him ;  but,  fixed  on  doing  his  duty, 
when  one  of  his  colleagues,  Q,.  Minucius,  came  and  called 
him  up  in  the  morning,  he  rose  and  set  out  for  the  Forum. 
Seeing  the  temple  of  Castor  occupied  by  gladiators,  while 
Caesar  and  Metellus  sat  on  the  Rostra,  he  cried,  "What  a 
bold  and  timid  man,  who  has  raised  such  a  force  against  one 
unarmed  man ! "  He  then  advanced  to  the  Rostra,  and 
took  his  seat  between  the  two:  numbers  of  well-disposed 
persons  in  the  crowd  cried  out  to  him  to  be  stout,  and  to 
those  about  them  to  stand  by  him  in  defence  of  their  free- 
dom. Metellus  then  ordered  the  clerk  to  read  out  the  bill ; 
Cato  forbade  him.  Metellus  took  it  himself,  and  began  to 
read  it ;  Cato  snatched  it  from  him.  Metellus  then  began  to 
repeat  it  from  memory;  but  Minucius  put  his  hand  on  his 
mouth  and  stopped  it.  Metellus  then  ordered  his  gladiators 
to  act.  The  people  were  dispersed  j  Cato  remained  alone  ; 
he  was  assailed  with  sticks  and  stones ;  but  Murena,  whom 
he  had  one  time  prosecuted,  threw  his  gown  over  him,  and 
brought  him  into  the  temple  of  Castor.  Metellus  then  dis- 
missed his  bandits,  and  was  proceeding  at  his  ease  to  pass 
his  law,  when  the  opposite  party  rallied  and  drove  him  and 
his  partisans  away.  Cato  came  forth  and  encouraged  them, 
and  the  senate  met  and  passed  a  decree  for  the  consuls  to 
take  care  of  the  republic.  Metellus,  having  assembled  the 
people,  and  uttered  a  tirade  against  the  tyranny  of  Cato  and 
the  conspiracy  against  Pompeius,  went  off  to  Asia  to  boast 
to  him  of  what  he  had  done.  The  senate  deprived  both  him 
and  Caesar  of  their  offices  :  the  latter,  at  first,  disregarded  the 
decree,  and  sat  in  court  as  usual ;  but,  finding  that  force 
was  about  to  be  employed  against  him,  he  dismissed  his 
lictors  and  retired  to  his  house ;  and  when,  two  days  after,  a 
multitude  repaired  to  him  offering  to  re-instate  him  by  force, 
he  declined  their  services.  This  conduct,  so  unexpected, 
was  so  grateful  to  the  senate,  that  they  sent  forthwith  to 
thank  him,  and  rescinded  their  decree.* 

At  the  close  of  Caesar's  praetorship,  the  rites  of  the  Bona 

*  Suetonius,  Jul.  Cess.  16. 


TRIAL    OF    CLODIUS.  B&^ 

Dea  were,  according  to  usage,  celebrated  by  the  women  itt 
his  house.  At  this  festival  no  man  was  allowed  to  be 
present ;  but  P.  Clodius,  the  brother-in-law  of  Lucullus,  a 
man  of  such  profligacy  of  morals  that  the  suspicion  of  incest 
with  his  own  sisters  was  so  strong  against  him  that  Lucullus 
had  divorced  his  wife  on  account  of  it,  shrank  not  from 
polluting  the  mysteries.  He  was  violently  enamored  of 
Caesar's  wife,  Pompeia ;  and  it  was  arranged  between  them 
that,  to  elude  the  vigilance  of  her  mother-in-law,  Aurelia,  he 
should  come  disguised  as  a  woman.  He  got  into  the  house, 
but  while  the  slave  who  was  the  confidant  was  gone  to 
inform  her  mistress,  he  went  roaming  about,  and  meeting 
one  of  Aurelia's  slaves  was  discovered  by  her.  She  gave 
the  alarm  ;  he  was  found  in  his  hiding-place,  and  turned  out 
of  the  house.  The  affair  was  soon  known  to  every  one. 
The  senate  consulted  the  pontiffs,  and  on  their  pronouncing 
it  to  have  been  impiety,  the  new  consul,  M.  Pupius  Piso, 
(691,)  was  directed  to  bring  the  matter  before  the  people. 
Piso,  himself  a  man  of  indifferent  character,  and  the  crea- 
ture of  Pompeius,  worked  underhand  against  it,  Clodius 
and  his  partisans  exerted  themselves  to  have  a  good  body  of 
the  rabble  in  readiness  to  disturb  the  voting.  The  nobles, 
seeing  how  it  would  be,  had  the  assembly  dismissed ;  and, 
on  the  motion  of  Hortensius,  it  was  resolved  that  the  prsetor 
and  the  usual  judges,  who  were  to  be  chosen  by  lot,  should 
try  the  matter.  Money  and  every  other  inducement  was 
now  to  be  employed  on  the  judges,  who  were  mostly  embar- 
rassed and  profligate  men.  Crassus,  as  usual,  was  most 
liberal ;  *  and  out  of  fifty-six,  thirty-one  acquitted  Clodius. 
The  judges,  pretending  fear,  had  asked  a  guard  from  the 
senate.  "  Were  you  afraid,"  said  Catulus,  a  few  days  after, 
to  one  of  them,  "  that  the  money  would  be  taken  from  you  ?  " 
When  Clodius  in  th,e  senate  afterwards  said  to  Cicero,  who 
had  given  evidence  against  him,t  that  the  judges  had  not 
given  him  credit,  "  Yes,"  replied  he,  "  twenty-five  did  ;  but 
thirty-one  would  not  give  you  credit,  for  they  received  the 
money  beforehand,"  —  so  notorious  was  the  manner  in  which 
the  verdict  had  been  obtained.     Caesar,  when  examined  on 

*  Cicero  ad  Att.  i.  15. 

't  Clodius  had  attempted  to  prove  an  alibi,  by  bringing  people  to 
swear  that  he  had  been  at  Interamna,  sixty  miles  off,  at  the  time  he 
was  said  to  have  been  in  Csesar's  house ;  but  Cicero,  when  examined, 
declared  that  he  had  been  with  him  at  Rome  that  very  morning. 
Clodius  never  forgave  him  for  not  having  perjured  himself: 


384  HISTORY   OF    ROME. 

the  trial,  though  his  mother  and  sister  had  given  the  fullest 
and  most  satisfactory  evidence,  denied  thlat  he  had  found  any 
thing  wrong.  He  had  however  divorced  his  wife ;  and  on 
being  asked  why  he  did  so,  as  he  declared  her  to  be  inno- 
cent, he  replied,  "  Because  I  will  have  those  belonging  to 
me  as  free  from  suspicion  as  from  crime."  *  A  very  specious 
sentiment  certainly !  Caesar  however  had  no  doubt  of  his 
wife's  guilt,  but  he  wanted  to  secure  the  aid  of  Clodius, 
whom  he  knew  to  be  a  bold  villain,  for  his  future  projects, 
and  he  thought  the  purchase  worth  the  price. 


CHAPTER  Vm.t 

POMPEIUS  AND  LUCULLUS. C  JULIUS  CiCSAR. M.  LICINIUS 

CRASSUS.  —  M.    PORCIUS     CATO. M.    TULLIUS     CICERO.  

POMPEIUS  AT  ROME. CONSULATE  OF  CiESAR.  EXILE  OP 

CICERO. ROBBERY    OF    THE    KING    OF    CYPRUS. RECALL 

OP    CICERO. HIS    CONDUCT    AFTER    HIS    RETURN. 

As  Catulus  died  about  this  time,  the  leading  men  in  the 
Roman  state  were  LucuUus,  Pompeius,  Caesar,  Crassus,  Cato, 
and  Cicero.  We  will  now,  therefore,  sketch  the  previous 
history  of  these  persons.  The  actions  of  the  first  two  have 
been  already  related.  Pompeius  now  only  aimed  at  main- 
taining a  virtual  supremacy  in  the  state :  he  was  no  tyrant 
by  nature ;  but  he  was  vain  and  covetous  of  fame,  and  find- 
ing himself  thwarted  and  opposed  in  the  senate,  he  courted 
the  favor  of  the  people.  Lucullus,  after  his  return  from 
Asia,  took  little  share  in  public  affairs ;  he  abandoned  him- 
self to  luxurious  enjoyments  to  such  an  excess  as  to  have 
made  his  name  proverbial.  His  luxury,  however,  was  of  a 
far  more  refined  and  elegant  nature  than  was  usual,  and  he 
was  a  zealous  patron  and  cultivator  of  literature.  He  rarely 
visited  the  senate  or  Forum,  and  only  when  it  was  necessary 
to  oppose  the  projects  of  Pompeius,  with  whom  he  was  justly 
incensed  for  his  treatment  of  him  in  Asia.  His  politics  were 
at  all  times  aristocratic. 

*  Suetonius,  Jul.  Caes.  74. 

t  Appian,  B.  C.  ii.  8—16.  Dion,  xxxviii.  1—30,  xxxix.  6—11, 17— 
23.    Plut.  Cicero,  Cato,  Caesar,  and  Pompeius. 


C.    JULIUS    C^SAR.  385 

C.  Julius  Caesar,  of  an  ancient  patrician  family,  was  neph- 
ew by  marriage  to  Marius,  and  had  married  the  daughter 
of  Cinna,  whom,  when  ordered  by  Sulla,  he  refused  to  di- 
vorce. The  dictator  refused  to  allow  him  to  assume  the 
dignity  of  Flamen  Dialis,  (to  which  he  had  been  nominated 
by  Marius  and  Cinna;)  deprived  him  of  his  wife's  portion, 
and  his  gentile  rights  of  inheritance ;  and  only  granted  his 
life  to  the  prayers  of  the  Vestals,  and  of  his  relations  Mani. 
^milius  and  C.  Aurelius  Cotta,  telling  them  at  the  same 
time,  it  is  said,  that  he  would  one  time  be  the  destruction 
of  the  aristocratic  party,  for  that  there  were  many  Marii  in 
him.  Caesar  retired  to  Asia,  and  his  enemies  always  as- 
serted that  at  this  time  he  prostituted  himself  to  Nicoraedes, 
king  of  Bithynia.  On  the  death  of  Sulla  he  returned  to 
Rome,  and  prosecuted  Cn.  Cornelius  Dolabella  for  extortion 
in  Greece ;  but,  failing  to  convict  him,  he  retired  to  Rhodes 
to  attend  the  lectures  of  the  rhetorician  Molo.  On  his  way 
he  was  taken  by  pirates,  and  while  detained  by  them,  waiting 
for  his  ransom,  he  used,  apparently  in  jest,  to  threaten  that 
he  would  yet  crucify  them ;  but  when  at  liberty,  he  collected 
a  fleet,  attacked  them,  and  did  as  he  had  threatened. 
When  he  came  back  to  Rome  he  was  chosen  by  the  people 
one  of  the  military  tribunes,  (682,)  and  he  was  active  in 
aiding  Pompeius  and  Crassus  in  restoring  their  powers  to 
the  tribunes  of  the  people.  His  wife  Cornelia  being  now 
dead,  he  espoused  Pompeia  the  niece  of  Sulla.  He  then 
(686)  went  as  quaestor  with  Antistius  Vetus  to  Ulterior 
Spain;  but  finding  no  occupation  there  for  his  ambitious 
spirit,  he  obtained  leave  to  return  to  Rome.  He  tried  to 
excite  the  Latin  colonies  who  were  claiming  the  civic  fran- 
chise, but,  finding  that  the  legions  destined  for  Cilicia  were 
detained  on  account  of  it,  he  gave  up  this  project.  He  soon 
after  (687)  fell  under  a  strong  suspicion  of  being  concerned 
with  Crassus,  Catilina,  Piso,  and  others  to  murder  a  part  of 
the  senate;  Crassus,  it  is  said,  was  then  to  be  dictator,  and 
Caesar  his  master  of  the  horse.  Crassus  however  lost  cour- 
age, and  the  attempt  was  not  made.  Piso  being  sent  to 
Spain,  Caesar,  it  is  added,  planned  a  simultaneous  rising 
with  him  ;  but  the  death  of  Piso  prevented  its  execution. 
Caesar  was  aedile  this  year,  and  he  entertained  the  people 
with  all  kinds  of  shows  at  an  enormous  expense  ;  and,  as  a 
means  of  repairing  his  fortune,  he  sought  Egypt  as  his  prov- 
ince, where  the  people  of  Alexandria  had  expelled  their 
king ;  but  the  nobility  opposed,  and  to  spite  them  he  re-» 
33  WW 


386  HISTORY    OF    ROME. 

placed  on  the  Capitol  the  statues  and  the  Cimbric  trophies 
of  Marius,  which  Sulla  had  removed  ;  he  also  caused  to  be 
prosecuted  as  murderers  those  who  had  received  money  out 
of  the  treasury  for  bringing  the  heads  of  the  proscribed ; 
and  he  excited  T.  Labienus  to  prosecute  C.  Rabirius  for  the 
murder  of  L.  Saturninus,  who  was  put  to  death  by  order  of 
the  senate  thirty- seven  years  before.  Q.Catulus,  observing 
these  proceedings,  exclaimed,  **  Caesar  assails  the  constitu-^ 
tion  now  with  engines,  not  by  mines."  On  the  death  of  the 
chief  pontiff  Metellus  Pius,  (688,)  Caesar  stood  for  the  office 
against  Q,.  Catulus  and  P.  Servilius  Isauricus,  two  of  the 
first  men  in  the  state,  relying  on  the  power  of  his  money ; 
for  he  had  bribed  to  such  an  extent,  and  was  thereby  so  im- 
mersed in  debt,  that,  when  taking  leave  of  his  mother  on  the 
day  of  election,  he  said  to  her,  "  Mother,  you  will  see  your 
son  to-day  chief  pontiff  or  an  exile."  He  was  elected;  hav- 
ing had  more  votes  in  his  competitors'  own  tribes  than  they 
had  altogether.  He  was  praetor  elect  at  the  time  of  Cati- 
lina's  conspiracy,  and  we  have  seen  his  conduct  on  that 
occasion  and  his  union  with  Metellus  Nepos.  On  the  ex- 
piration of  his  office  he  was  appointed  propraetor  in  Spain  ; 
but  his  creditors  would  not  let  him  go,  till  Crassus,  who 
knew  how  useful  he  might  be  to  him,  satisfied  the  most 
urgent,  and  gave  security  to  the  amount  of  eight  hundred 
and  thirty  talents  to  the  others. 

M.  Licinius  Crassus  was  a  man  of  considerable  talent 
and  eloquence,  but  of  insatiable  avarice.  In  the  time  of 
Sulla  he  obtained  by  gift  or  purchase  at  low  rates  an  im- 
mense quantity  of  the  property  of  the  proscribed,  and  he 
used  every  means  to  augment  his  wealth.  He  courted  the 
people  with  entertainments ;  he  lent  money  to  his  friends 
without  interest,  and  to  others  on  interest ;  and  by  these 
means  had  such  a  number  of  persons  under  his  influence, 
that  he  possessed  considerable  power  in  the  state.  His 
eloquence  gave  him  great  advantage  as  an  advocate,  and  be 
usually  undertook  the  defence  of  those  accused  of  crimes. 
Crassus  had  not  the  great  talents  of  Caesar,  but  his  private 
character  was  much  purer. 

M.  Porcius  Cato,  a  descendant  of  the  celebrated  censor, 
was  like  him  a  rigid  mair^tainer  of  the  old  Roman  man-, 
ners.  His  life  was  stainless,  his  morals  austere  ;  but  he  was 
not  totally  exempt  from  the  vanity  which  seemed  inherent 
in  his  family.  Having  served  as  a  military  tribune  in 
Macedonia,  and  made  a  tour  through  Asia,  he  returned  to 


M.    TULLIUS    CICERO.  387 

Rome,  and  devoted  himself  to  public  affairs.  He  was  first 
appointed  to  the  quaestorship,  and  (what  was,  it  seems,  very 
unusual  at  the  time)  before  he  entered  on  the  duties  of  his 
office  he  made  himself  master  of  the  laws  and  rules  be- 
longing to  it.  The  clerks,  who  heretofore  had  done  all  the 
business  as  they  pleased  under  the  name  of  the  ignorant 
young  noblemen  who  were  appointed  to  the  office,  now 
found  matters  quite  altered;  they  attempted  to  thwart  him, 
but  he  turned  some  of  them  out,  and  soon  reduced  them  to 
order.  He  brought  the  treasury  into  a  more  flourishing  state 
than  it  had  been  for  some  time.  He  made  those  who  had 
received  from  Sulla  the  50,000  sesterces  for  the  murder 
of  the  proscribed  refund,  as  possessing  the  public  money 
unlawfully  ;  and  they  were  then  prosecuted  for  the  murders 
they  had  committed.  Cato  never  was  absent  from  a  sitting 
of  the  senate  or  an  assembly  of  the  people  ;  he  was  the  first 
to  enter,  the  last  to  leave,  the  senate-house ;  in  the  intervals 
of  business  he  drew  his  cloak  before  his  face  and  read, 
having  a  book  always  with  him.  When  his  friends,  in  the 
year  6S9,  urged  him  to  stand  for  the  tribunate,  he  declined 
and  retired  to  his  estate  in  Lucania ;  but  on  his  road  meet- 
ing the  train  of  Metellus  Nepos,  who  was  going,  with  Pom- 
peius'  approbation,  to  sue  for  the  office,  he  paused,  and, 
having  reflected  on  the  evil  Metellus  might  do  if  not  vigor- 
ously opposed,  he  returned,  offered  himself  as  a  candidate, 
and,  being  elected,  acted  as  we  have  seen  above.  Cicero 
objected  to  Cato  that  he  did  not,  like  himself,  bend  to  cir- 
cumstances, speaking,  as  he  terms  it,  as  if  he  were  in  Plato's 
republic  and  not  in  the  dregs  of  Romulus ;  and  his  obser- 
vation is  just ;  but  it  is  this  very  thing  that  gives  dignity 
to  Cato's  character :  as  for  the  republic,  it  was  already  past 
redemption. 

M.  Tullius  Cicero  was  a  native  of  Arpinum  in  the  Vol- 
scian  country,  where  his  family  had  been  connected  with 
that  of  Marius.  His  superior  talents  early  displayed  them- 
selves, and  were  sedulously  cultured  ;  and,  though  of  rather 
a  timid  character,  he  ventured  to  plead  the  cause  of  Sex. 
Roscius,  who  was  unjustly  prosecuted  for  parricide  by  Sulla's 
freedman  Chrysogonus  and  his  agents,  after  they  had  robbed 
him  of  his  property.  Though  he  succeeded,  Sulla  testified 
no  enmity  toward  him;  he,  however,  sometime  after  went 
to  Greece  for  the  sake  of  study,  and  of  hearing  the  lectures 
of  the  most  distinguished  teachers  of  rhetoric.  After  his  re- 
turn he  was  appointed  (677)  frumentary  quaestor  for  Sicily, 


388  HISTORY    OP    ROME. 

and  in  this  office  he  exhibited  that  spirit  of  humanity  and 
justice  which  always  distinguished  him.  In  682,  when 
Pompeius  and  Crassus  were  consuls,  Cicero,  then  aedile 
elect,  appeared  as  the  prosecutor  of  the  notorious  C.  Verres 
for  robbery  and  extortion  in  Sicily.  He  was  chosen  praetor 
for  the  year  686.  It  would  appear  that,  as  the  haughty 
nobility  looked  down  on  him  as  being  a  new  man,  he  now 
chiefly  sought  the  favor  of  the  people  and  of  Pompeius ; 
for  while  in  office  he  strenuously  supported  the  Manilian 
law,  which  was  certainly  not  a  constitutional  measure.  The 
danger  caused  by  Catilina  however  drew  Cicero  and  the 
aristocracy  closely  together ;  they  raised  him  to  his  glori- 
ous consulate,  and  he  ever  after  continued  to  be  their  ablest 
supporter. 

Pompeius  on  his  return  from  Asia  found  his  party  in  the 
senate  not  so  strong  as  hitherto  ;  Lucullus  and  Metellus 
Creticus  were  both  hostile  to  him,  Crassus  bore  him  the  old 
grudge,  Cicero  had  somewhat  cooled  in  his  ardor.  The  first 
request  which  he  had  made,  namely,  to  have  the  consular 
elections  for  691  deferred  till  he  should  arrive  to  canvass  for 
his  friend  M.  Pupius  Piso,  was  refused,  Cato  opposing  it  as 
unconstitutional.  Piso  however  was  elected;  but  he  does 
not  appear  to  have  quite  answered  Pompeius'  purpose,  being 
perhaps  impeded  by  his  colleague  M.  Valerius  Messala.  At 
the  next  election  (691)  Pompeius  (Piso  being  his  agent) 
actually  bought  the  consulate  for  his  creature  L.  Afranius, 
paying  the  tribes  so  much  apiece  for  their  votes.*  Even 
this  did  not  answer,  as  Afranius  was  a  man  of  little  account, 
and  his  colleague  Q,.  Metellus  Celer  was  personally  hostile 
to  Pompeius  for  having  divorced  his  sister  Mucia.  What 
Pompeius  chiefly  wanted  to  accomplish  was,  to  get  lands 
for  his  soldiers,  and  to  have  all  his  acts  in  Asia  confirmed 
in  the  mass  by  the  senate ;  but  Lucullus  and  his  party  in- 
sisted, with  reason,  that  they  should  be  gone  through  sep- 
arately, and  confirmed  or  not  according  to  their  merits.  At 
Pompeius'  desire  the  tribune  L.  Flavins  moved  an  agrarian 
law,  and  to  gain  the  people  they  were  joined  in  it  with  the 
soldiers.  Cicero,  proposing  amendments  for  the  security  of 
private  property,  and  for  the  purchase  of  the  lands  to  be 
divided  out  of  the  new  revenues  of  the  state,  gave  the  bill  his 
support ;  for  he  wished  to  oblige  Pompeius,  and  he  expected 
that  it  would  help  to  remove  the  rabble  from  the  city.t     But 

•  Cioero  ad  Att.  i.  16.    Flat.  Pomp.  44.  f  Cic.  ad  Att.  i.  19. 


CONSULATE    OF    C^SAR.  389 

the  senate  was  strongly  opposed  to  it ;  the  tribune  on  his 
side  was  violent ;  he  cast  the  consul  Metellus  into  prison, 
and,  when  Metellus  summoned  the  senate  thither,  Flavins 
placed  his  official  seat  in  the  door  and  told  them  they  must 
make  their  way  through  the  wall.  Pompeius  however, 
through  shame  and  fear  of  disgusting  the  people,  ordered  him 
to  rise  and  leave  the  passage  free.  The  bill  appears  to  have 
been  then  given  up. 

Caesar,  who,  by  expeditions  against  the  Lusitanians,  had, 
as  he  considered,  gotten  sufficient  materials  for  a  triumph, 
and  was  anxious  to  obtain  the  consulate,  hastened  home 
when  the  time  of  the  elections  was  at  hand,  (692.)  As  there 
was  no  room  for  delay,  he  applied  to  the  senate  for  permis- 
sion to  enter  the  city  before  his  triumph  in  order  to  canvass 
the  people;  but  Cato  and  his  friends  opposing  it,  it  was  re- 
fused. Caesar,  who  was  not  a  man  to  sacrifice  the  substance 
for  the  show,  gave  up  the  triumph ;  and,  entering  the  city, 
formed  a  coalition  with  L.  Lucceius,  a  man  of  wealth  who 
was  also  a  candidate,  of  which  the  terms  were  that  Luc- 
ceius should  distribute  money  in  his  own  and  Caesar's  name 
conjointly,  and  Caesar  in  like  manner  give  him  a  share  in 
his  influence.  The  nobles,  when  they  saw  this  coalition, 
resolved  to  give  all  their  interest  to  M.  Calpurnius  Bibulus, 
the  other  candidate,  and,  with  even  Cato's  consent,  author- 
ized him  to  offer  as  high  as  Lucceius,  engaging  to  raise 
the  money  among  them.  Bibulus  therefore  was  elected 
with  Caesar,  whose  daring  projects  the  senate  thus  hoped 
to  restrain, 

Caesar,  who  well  knew  the  character  of  Pompeius,  re- 
solved to  make  him  and  Crassus  the  ladder  of  his  ambition. 
He  represented  to  them  how  absurd  their  jealousy  and  en- 
mity was,  which  only  gave  importance  to  such  people  as 
Cato  and  Cicero ;  whereas  if  they  three  were  united  they 
might  command  the  state.  They  saw  the  truth  of  what 
he  said,  and  each,  blinded  by  his  vanity  and  ambition,  ex- 
pecting to  derive  the  greatest  advantage  from  it,  agreed  to 
the  coalition;  and  thus  was  formed  a  Triumvirate,  bound  by 
a  secret  pledge  that  nothing  displeasing  to  any  one  of  them 
should  be  allowed  to  pass. 

Caesar,  as  soon  as  he  entered  on  his  office,  (693,)  introduced 
an  agrarian  law  for  dividing  all  the  public  land  (except  in 
Campania)  among  Pompeius'  soldiers  and  the  poorer  citi- 
zens ;  purchasing  it  however  from  the  present  possessors, 
and  appointing  twenty  commissioners  to  carry  the  law  into 
33* 


390  HIStOtlT   OF    ROME. 

effect,  among  whom  were  to  be  Pompeius  and  Crassus.  This 
law,  to  which  they  could  make  no  objection,  was  highly  dis- 
pleasing to  the  adverse  party  in  the  senate,  who  suspected 
Caesar's  ulterior  designs,  and  Cato  declared  strongly  against 
any  change.  Caesar  menaced  to  drag  him  off  to  prison ;  he 
professed  himself  ready  to  go  that  instant,  and  several  rose 
to  follow  him.  Csesar  then  grew  ashamed  and  desisted, 
but  he  dismissed  the  senate,  telling  them  he  would  bring 
the  matter  at  once  before  the  people ;  and  he  called  the 
senate  together  no  longer  during  his  consulate. 

He  then  laid  his  bill  before  the  people,  to  which  he  had 
added  a  clause  for  dividing  the  lands  of  Campania,  in  lota 
of  ten  jugers,  among  twenty  thousand  poor  citizens  with 
three  or  more  children  ;  *  and,  being  desirous  to  have  some 
of  the  principal  persons  to  express  their  approbation  of  it,  he 
first  addressed  his  colleague,  but  Bibulus  declared  himself 
adverse  to  innovation ;  he  then  affected  to  entreat  him,  ask- 
ing the  people  to  join  with  him,  as  if  Bibulus  wished  they 
might  have  it ;  "  Then,"  cried  Bibulus,  "  you  shall  not 
have  it  this  year  even  if  you  all  will  it,"  and  went  away. 
Caesar,  expecting  a  similar  refusal  from  the  other  magis- 
trates, made  no  application  to  them,  but  bringing  forward 
Pompeius  and  Crassus  desired  them  to  say  what  they 
thought  of  the  law.  Pompeius  then  spoke  highly  in  favor 
of  it,  and  on  Caesar  and  the  people  asking  him  if  he  would 
support  them  against  those  who  opposed  it,  he  cried,  elate 
with  this  proof  of  his  importance,  "  If  any  man  dares  to 
draw  a  sword,  I  will  raise  a  buckler  ! "  Crassus  also  ex- 
pressed his  approbation,  and  as  the  coalition  was  a  secret, 
the  example  of  these  two  leading  men  induced  many  others 
to  give  their  consent  and  support  to  the  law.  Bibulus  how- 
ever was  still  firm,  and  he  was  supported  by  three  of  the 
tribunes;  and,  as  a  means  of  impeding  the  law,  he  declared 
all  the  remaining  days  of  the  year  nefasti^  or  holydays. 
When  Caesar,  regardless  of  his  proclamations,  fixed  a  day 
for  passing  the  law,  Bibulus  and  his  friends  came  to  the 
temple  of  Castor,  whence  he  was  haranguing  the  people, 
and  attempted  to  oppose  him  ;  but  he  was  pushed  down,  a 
basket  of  dung  was  flung  upon  him,  his  lictors'  fasces  were 
broken,  his  friends  (among  whom  were  Cato  and  the  trib- 

*  Cicero  (ad  Att.  ii.  16)  hiffhly  disapproved  of  this.  He  however 
expected  that,  as  the  land  wotQd  yield  but  5000  lots,  the  people  would 
be  discontented. 


CONSULATE    OF    CiESAR.  391 

unes)  were  beaten  and  wounded,  and  so  the  law  was 
passed.  Bibulus  henceforth  did  not  quit  his  house,  whence 
he  continually  issued  edicts  declaring  all  that  was  done  on 
the  nefast  days  to  be  unlawful.  The  tribune  P.  Vatinius, 
one  of  Caesar's  creatures,  even  attempted  to  drag  him  to 
prison,  but  he  was  opposed  by  his  colleagues. 

The  senate  were  required  to  swear  to  this  law,  as  for- 
merly to  that  of  Saturninus.  Metellus,  Cato,  and  Cato's 
imitator  Favonius  at  first  declared  loudly  that  they  would 
not  do  so ;  but  having  the  fate  of  Numidicus  before  their 
eyes,  and  knowing  the  inutility  of  opposition,  they  yielded 
to  the  remonstrances  of  their  friends. 

Having  thus  gained  the  people,  Caesar  proceeded  to  se- 
cure the  knights,  and  here  Cato's  Utopian  policy  aided  him. 
This  most  influential  body  thinking,  or  pretending,  that  they 
had  taken  the  tolls  at  too  high  a  rate,  had  applied  to  the 
senate  for  a  reduction,  but  Cato  insisted  on  keeping  them 
to  their  bargain.  Caesar,  without  heeding  him  or  the  senate, 
reduced  them  at  once  a  third,  and  thus  this  self-interested 
body  was  detached  from  the  party  of  the  aristocracy,  and  all 
Cicero's  work  undone.  Caesar  now  found  himself  strong 
enough  to  keep  his  promise  to  Pompeius,  all  whose  acts  in 
Asia  were  confirmed  by  the  people.* 

The  triumvirate,  or  rather  Caesar,  was  extremely  anxious 
to  gain  Cicero  over  to  their  side,  on  account  of  the  influ- 
ence which  he  possessed.  But,  though  he  had  a  great  per- 
sonal regard  for  Pompeius,  he  rejected  all  their  overtures. 
Caesar  then  resolved  to  make  him  feel  his  resentment,  and 
the  best  mode  seemed  to  be  to  let  Clodius  loose  at  him. 
This  profligate  had  long  been  trying  to  become  a  tribune  of 
the  people,  but  for  that  purpose  it  was  necessary  he  should 
be  a  plebeian,  which  could  only  be  effected  by  adoption. 
His  first  efforts  were  unavailing;  but  when  Cicero,  in  defend- 
ing his  former  colleague  Antonius,  took  occasion  to  make 
some  reflections  on  the  present  condition  of  the  common- 
wealth, Caesar,  to  punish  him,  had  the  law  for  Clodius'  adop- 
tion passed  at  once,  Pompeius  degrading  himself  by  acting 
as  augur  on  this  occasion,  in  which  all  the  laws  and  rules 
on  the  subject  were  violated. t 

*  It  was  probably  on  this  occasion  that  Caesar  so  terrified  Lucullus 
by  false  accusations  that  he  threw  himself  at  his  feet.  Suet.  Jul. 
Cses.  20.     ' 

t  To  make  an  adoption  legal,  it  was  necessary  that  the  adopter 
should  be  older  than  the  adopted,  have  no  children,  and  be  incapable 


392  HISTORT   OF    iiOME. 

Some  time  after,  one  Vettius,  who  had  been  one  of  Cice- 
ro's informers  in  the  affair  of  Catilina,  being  suborned,  it 
is  said,  by  Caesar,  declared  that  several  young  noblemen  had 
entered  into  a  plot,  in  which  he  partook,  to  murder  Pom- 
peius ;  and  he  named  L.  ^Emilius  Paulus,  who  was  then 
actually  pro-quaBstor  in  Macedonia,  as  the  head  of  it.  The 
senate  ordered  him  to  prison ;  next  day  Caesar  produced  him 
on  the  Rostra,  when  he  omitted  some  whom  he  had  named 
to  the  senate,  and  added  others,  among  whom  were  Lu- 
cullus  and  Cicero's  son-in-law  Piso,  and  hinted  at  Cicero 
himself  Vettius  was  taken  back  to  prison,  where  he  was 
privately  murdered  by  his  accomplices,  as  Caesar  said,* — by 
Caesar  himself,  according  to  others.t 

The  senate,  to  render  Caesar  as  innoxious  as  possible,  had, 
in  right  of  the  Sempronian  law,  assigned  the  woods  and 
roads  as  the  provinces  of  the  consuls  on  the  expiration  of 
their  office.  But  Caesar  had  no  idea  of  being  foiled  thus ; 
and  his  creature,  the  tribune  Vatinius,  had  a  law  passed  by 
the  people,  giving  him  the  province  of  Cisalpine  Gaul  and 
Illyricum,  with  three  legions,  for  five  years ;  and  when,  on 
the  death  of  Metellus  Celer,  he  expressed  a  wish  to  have 
Transalpine  Gaul  added,  the  senate,  as  he  would  otherwise 
have  applied  to  the  people,  granted  it  to  him  with  another 
legion.  In  order  to  draw  the  ties  more  closely  between 
himself  and  Pompeius,  he  gave  him  in  marriage  his  lovely 
and  amiable  daughter  Julia,  and  he  himself  married  the 
daughter  of  L.  Calpurnius  Piso,  whom,  with  A.  Gabinius,  a 
creature  of  Pompeius,  the  triumvirs  had  destined  for  the 
consulate  of  the  following  year.  They  also  secured  the 
tribunate  for  Clodius ;  and  thus  terminated  the  memorable 
consulate  of  Caesar  and  Bibulus. 

Clodius  lost  no  time  (694)  in  preparing  for  his  attack  on 
Cicero.  He  first  secured  the  consuls,  who  were  distressed 
and  profligate  men,  by  engaging  to  get  Macedonia  and 
Achaia  for  Piso  as  his  province,  and  Syria  for  Gabinius. 
Then,  to  win  the  people,  he  proposed  a  law  for  distributing 
corn  to  them  gratis  ;  by  another  law  he  reestablished  the 

of  having  any,  and  that  there  should  be  no  collusion  in  the  affair ;  all 
of  which  should  be  proved  before  a  college  of  the  priests.  Now  Fon- 
teius,  who  adopted  Clodius,  was  not  twenty,  while  his  adopted  son  was 
thirty-five :  he  had  moreover  a  wife  and  children,  and  the  priests  were 
never  consulted.  How  this  transaction  must  make  one  hate  Caesar, 
and  despise  Pompeius  ! 
*  Appian,  B.  C.  ii.  12.  t  Suet.  Jul.  Gees.  20. 


EXILE    OF    CICERO.  393 

clubs  and  unions,*  which  the  senate  had  suppressed,  and 
formed  new  ones  out  of  the  dregs  of  the  people  and  even  of 
the  slaves  ;  by' a  third  law  he  prohibited  any  one  from  watch- 
ing the  heavens  on  assembly  days;t  and  by  a  fourth  he 
forbade  the  censors  to  note  any  senator  unless  he  was  openly 
accused  before  them,  and  that  they  both  agreed.  Having 
thus,  as  he  thought,  secured  the  favor  of  the  consuls  and  the 
people,  and  having  a  sufficient  number  of  ruffians  from  the 
clubs  and  unions  at  his  devotion,  he  proposed  a  bill  inter- 
dicting from  fire  and  water  any  person  who,  without  sentence 
of  the  people,  had  or  should  put  any  citizen  to  death.  Cicero, 
who,  though  he  was  not  named,  knew  that  he  was  aimed 
at,  was  so  foolish  and  cowardly  as  to  change  his  raiment, 
(a  thing  he  afterwards  justly  regretted,)  and  go  about  sup- 
plicating the  people  according  to  custom,  as  if  he  were 
actually  accused ;  but  Clodius  and  his  ruffians  met  him, 
in  all  the  streets,  threw  dirt  and  stones  at  him,  and  im- 
peded his  supplications :  the  knights,  the  young  men,  and 
numbers  of  others,  with  young  Crassus  at  their  head, 
changed  their  habits  with  him  and  protected  him.  They 
assembled  on  the  Capitol,  and  sent  some  of  the  most 
respectable  of  their  body  on  his  behalf  to  the  consuls  and 
the  senate,  who  were  in  the  temple  of  Concord  ;  but  Gabin- 
ius  would  not  let  them  come  near  the  senate,  and  Clodius 
had  them  beaten  by  his  ruffians.  On  the  proposal  of  the 
tribune  L.  Ninius,  the  senate  decreed  that  they  should 
change  their  raiment  as  in  a  public  calamity  ;  but  Gabinius 
forbade  it,  and  Clodius  was  at  hand  with  his  cut-throats,  so 
that  many  of  them  tore  their  clothes,  and  rushed  out  of 
the  temple  with  loud  cries.  Pompeius  had  told  Cicero  not 
to  fear,  and  repeatedly  promised  him  his  aid ;  and  Caesar, 
whose  design  was  only  to  humble  him,  had  offered  to  appoint 
him  his  legate,  to  give  him  an  excuse  for  absenting  himself 
from  the  city  ;  but  Cicero,  suspecting  his  object  in  so  doing, 
and  thinking  it  derogatory  to  him,  had  refused  it.  He  now 
found  that  Pompeius  had  been  deceiving  him,  for  he  kept 

*  The  sodalitdtes  were,  properly  speaking,  guilds  or  companies  of 
trades,  and  as  such  they  had  religious  festivals,  a  common  purse,  of- 
ficers, &c.  As  their  members  were  of  a  very  low  rank  in  society, 
trade  being  in  no  repute  at  Rome,  and  as  we  find  them  mere  tools  of 
demagogues  in  their  political  capacity,  we  think  the  terms  in  the  text 
will  give  the  reader  of  the  present  day  a  more  correct  idea  of  them 
than  the  more  dignified  ones  of  guilds  and  companies. 

t  Because  thunder,  &c.  would  cause  the  assembly  to  be  put  off,  and 
by  this  means  bad  measures,  and  good  ones  too,  had  often  been  stopped. 

X  X 


394  HISTORY    OF    ROME. 

out  of  the  way  lest  he  should  be  called  on  to  perform  his 
promises.  Sooner,  as  he  says,  than  be  the  cause  of  civil 
tumult  and  bloodshed,  he  retired  by  night  from  the  city 
which,  but  five  years  before,  he  had  saved  from  the  asso- 
ciates of  those  who  now  expelled  him,  Caesar,  who  had 
remained  in  the  suburbs  waiting  for  the  effect  of  Clodius' 
measures,  then  set  out  for  his  province.  When  Clodius 
found  that  Cicero  was  gone,  he  had  a  bill  passed  interdicting 
him  from  fire  and  water,  and  outlawing  any  person  living 
within  four  hundred  miles  of  Italy  who  should  entertain  him. 
He  burned  and  destroyed  his  different  villas  and  his  house 
on  the  Palatine,  on  the  site  of  which  he  built  a  temple  to 
Liberty  !  His  goods  were  put  up  to  auction  ;  but,  as  no  one 
would  bid  for  them,  the  consuls  took  possession  of  them  for 
themselves. 

Cicero,  it  is  much  to  be  lamented,  bore  his  exile  with  far 
less  equanimity  than  could  have  been  wished  for  by  the  ad- 
mirers of  his  really  noble  character;  his  extant  letters  are 
filled  with  the  most  unmanly  complaints,  and  he  justly  drew 
on  himself  the  derision  of  his  enemies.  But  his  was  not 
one  of  those  characters  which,  based  on  the  high  conscious- 
ness of  worth,  derive  all  their  support  and  consolation  from 
within ;  it  could  only  unfold  its  bloom  and  display  its 
strength  beneath  the  fostering  sun  of  public  favor  and  ap- 
plause, and  Cicero  was  great  nowhere  but  at  Rome.  It  was 
his  first  Intention  to  go  to  Sicily,  but  the  praetor  of  that  island, 
C.  Virgilius,  who  had  been  his  intimate  friend,  wrote  desiring 
him  not  to  enter  it.  He  then  passed  over  to  Greece,  where 
he  was  received  with  the  most  distinguished  honors,  and 
finally  fixed  his  residence  in  Macedonia,  where  the  quaestor 
Cn.  Plancius  showed  him  every  attention. 

Having  driven  Cicero  away,  Clodius  next  proceeded  to 
remove  Cato,  that  he  might  not  be  on  the  spot  to  impede 
his  measures.  And  he  proposed  at  the  same  time  to  gratify 
an  old  grudge  against  the  king  of  Cyprus,  the  brother  of 
the  king  of  Egypt ;  for  when  Clodius  was  in  Asia  he  chanced 
to  be  taken  by  the  pirates,  and,  having  no  money,  he  ap- 
plied to  the  king  of  Cyprus,  on  whom  he  certainly  had  no 
claim.  The  king,  who  was  a  miser,  sent  him  only  two 
talents,  and  the  pirates  sent  the  paltry  sum  back,  and  set 
Clodius  at  liberty  without  ransom.  Clodius  kept  this  con- 
duct in  his  mind  ;  and,  just  as  he  entered  on  his  tribunate, 
the  Cypriotes  happening  to  send  to  Rome  to  complain  of 
their  king,   he  had  a  bill  passed  to  reduce  Cyprus  to  the 


ROBBERY  OF  THE  KING  OF  CYPRUS.       395 

form  of  a  province,  and  to  sell  the  king's  private  property  ; 
he  added  in  the  bill,  that  this  province  should  be  committed 
to  Cato  as  quaestor,  with  praetorian  power,  who  (to  keep 
him  the  longer  away  from  Rome)  was  also  directed  to  go 
to  Byzantium,  and  restore  the  exiles  who  had  been  driven 
thence  for  their  crimes.     Cato,  we  are  assured,  undertook 
this  most  iniquitous  commission  against  his  will ;  *  he  exe- 
cuted it,  however,  most  punctually.     He  went  to  Rhodes, 
whence  he  sent  one  of  his  friends  named  M.  Canidius  to 
Cyprus,  to  desire  the  king  to  resign  quietly,  offering  him  the 
priesthood  of  the  Paphian    goddess.      Ptolemseus   however 
preferred  death  to  degradation,  and  he  took  poison.     Cato 
then,  not  trusting   Canidius,  sent  his   nephew,  M.  Junius 
Brutus,  to  look  alter  the  property,  and  went  himself  to  By- 
zantium, where  he  effected  his  object  without  any  difficulty. 
He  then  proceeded  to  Cyprus  to  sell  the  late  king's  prop- 
erty ;  and,  being   resolved  to  make  this  a   model-sale,  he 
attended   the    auction  constantly  himself,  saw    that    every 
article  was  sold  to  the  best  advantage,  and  even  offended 
his  friends  by  not  allowing  them  to  get  bargains.     He  thus 
got  together  a  sum  of  7000  talents,  which  he  made  up  in 
vessels  containing  2  talents  500  drachmas  each,  to  which 
he  attached  a  cord  and  cOrk,  that  they  might  float  in  case 
of  shipwreck.     He  also  had  t>\'0  separate  accounts  of  the 
sale  drawn  out,  one  of   which  he    kept,  and  the  other  he 
committed  to  one  of  his  freedmen  ;  but  both  happened  to  be 
lost,  and  he  had  not  the  gratification  of  proving  his  ability 
of  making  the  most  of  a  property. 

When  the  news  that  Cato  had  entered  the  Tiber  with  the 
money  reached  Rome,  priests  and  magistrates,  senate  and 
people,  poured  out  to  receive  him  ;  but,  though  the  consuls 
and  praetors  were  among  them,  Cato  would  not  quit  his 
charge  till  he  had  brought  his  vessel  up  to  the  quay.  The 
people  were  amazed  at  the  quantity  of  the  wealth,  and  the 
senate  voted  a  praetorship  to  Cato,  though  he  was  under 
the  legal  age,  and  permission  to  appear  at  the  games  in  a 
prcBtexta,  of  which  however  he  took  no  advantage.  No 
one  thought  of  the ' iniquity  of  the  whole  proceeding;  and 
when  Cicero,  after  his  return,  wished  to  annul  all  the  acts 
of  Clodius'  tribunate,  Cato  opposed  him,  and  this  caused  a 
coolness  between  them  for  some  time. 

*  A  Roman  was  not  at  liberty  to  refuse  a  charge  committed  to  him 
by  the  state. 


396  HISTORY    OF    ROAtE. 

'Cicero  had  been  gone  but  two  months  when  his  friend 
Ninius  the  tribune,  supported  by  seven  of  his  colleagues, 
made  a  motion  in  the  senate  for  his  recall.  The  whole 
house  agreed  to  it,  but  one  of  .the  other  tribunes  interposed. 
Pompeius  himself  was,  however,  now  disposed  to  join  in 
restoring  him,  for  Clodius'  insolence  was  gone  past  his  en- 
durance. This  ruffian  had  by  stratagem  got  into  his  hands 
the  young  Tigranes,  whom  Pompeius  had  given  in  charge  to 
the  praetor  L.  Flavins.  He  had  promised  him  his  liberty  for 
a  large  sum  of  money  ;  and  when  Pompeius  demanded  him, 
he  put  him  on  board  a  ship  bound  for  Asia.  A  storm  having 
driven  the  vessel  into  Antium,  Flavius  went  with  an  armed 
force  to  seize  the  prince,  but  Clodius  met  him  on  the  Ap- 
pian  Road,  and,  after  an  engagement  in  which  several  were 
slain  on  both  sides,  drove  him  off.*  While  Pompeius  was 
brooding  over  this  insult,  one  of  Clodius'  slaves  was  seized 
at  the  door  of  the  senate-house  with  a  dagger,  which  he 
said  his  master  had  given  him  that  he  might  kill  Pompeius; 
Clodius'  mob  also  made  frequent  attacks  on  him,  so  that  out 
of  real  or  pretended  fear  he  resolved  to  keep  his  house  till 
the  end  of  the  year ;  indeed  he  had  been  actually  pursued 
to  and  besieged  in  it  one  day  by  a  mob,  headed  by  Clodius' 
freedman  Damio,  and  the  consul  Gabinius  had  to  fight  in  his 
defence.f  Pompeius  therefore  now  resolved  to  befriend 
Cicero ;  and  P.  Sextius,  one  of  the  tribunes  elect,  took  a 
journey  into  Gaul  to  obtain  Caesar's  consent.  About  the 
end  of  October  the  eight  tribunes  again  proposed  a  law  for 
his  recall,  and  P.  Lentulus  Spinther,  the  consul  elect,  spoke 
strongly  in  favor  of  it.  Lentulus'  colleague,  Q,.  Metellus 
Nepos,  though  he  had  been  Cicero's  enemy,  seeing  how 
Caesar  and  Pompeius  were  inclined,  promised  his  aid,  as 
also  did  all  the  tribunes  elect :  Clodius,  however,  soon  man- 
aged to  purchase  two  of  them. 

On  the  1st  of  January  (695)  Lentulus  moved  the  senate 
for  Cicero's  recall.  L.  Cotta  said,  that,  as  he  had  been  ex- 
pelled without  law,  he  did  not  require  a  law  for  his  restora- 
tion. Pompeius  agreed,  but  said  that  for  Cicero's  sake  it 
would  be  better  if  the  people  had  a  share  in  restoring  him. 
The  senate  were  unanimously  of  this  opinion,  but  the  trib- 
une Sex.  Serranus  interposed.  The  senate  then  appointed 
the  22d  for  laying  the  matter  before  the  people.     When 

that  day  came,  the  tribune  CI.  Fabricius  set  out  before  it  was 

•  Asconiua  on  Cic.  for  Milo.  t  Id.  trf  supra 


RECALL   OP   CICERO.  397 

light  with  a  party  to  occupy  the  Rostra ;  but  Clodius  had 
already  taken  possession  of  the  Forum  with  his  own  gladia- 
tors, and  a  band  he  had  borrowed  from  his  brother  Appius, 
and  his  ordinary  troop  of  ruffians.*  Fabricius'  party  was 
driven  off  with  the  loss  of  several  lives.  Another  tribune, 
M.  Cispius,  was  treated  in  a  similar  manner.  Q,.  Cicero 
only  saved  himself  by  getting  under  the  bodies  of  his  slaves 
and  freedmen  who  were  slain  about  him  in  the  Comitium  ; 
the  tribune  Sextius  was  left  for  dead  in  the  temple  of  Castor. 
The  Tiber  and  the  sewers  were  filled  with  dead  bodies,  and 
the  Forum  was  covered  with  blood  as  in  the  time  of  the 
contest  of  Cinna  and  Octavius.  Clodius,  elate  with  his  vic- 
tory, then  burned  the  temple  of  the  Nymphs,  where  the 
books  of  the  censors  were  kept ;  he  attacked  the  houses 
of  the  praetor  L.  Caecilius  and  the  tribune  T.  Annius  Milo. 
The  latter  impeached  Clodius,  de  vi,  but  his  brother  Appius 
the  praetor,  and  the  consul  Metellus,  screened  him,  and 
meantime  aided  his  suit  for  the  aedileship,  which  would  pro- 
tect him  for  another  year.  Milo  then,  to  repel  force  by 
force,  also  purchased  a  band  of  gladiators,  and  daily  conflicts 
occurred  in  the  streets. 

The  senate,  resolved  not  to  be  thus  bullied,  directed  the 
magistrates  to  summon  well-aiTected  voters  from  all  parts  of 
Italy.  They  came  in  great  numbers  from  every  town  and 
district.  Pompeius,  who  was  then  at  Capua,  exerted  him- 
self greatly  in  the  affair.  Encouraged  by  their  presence  the 
senate  passed  a  decree  in  proper  form  for  Cicero's  restora- 
tion ;  but  Clodius  still  was  able  to  prevent  its  ratification  by 
the  pe6ple.  The  senate  then  met  on  the  Capitol,  (May  25  ;) 
Pompeius  spoke  highly  in  praise  of  Cicero ;  others  followed 
him ;  Metellus,  who  had  been  playing  a  double  part  all 
through,  ceased  to  oppose,  and  a  decree  was  passed,  Clodius 
alone  dissenting.  The  senate  met  again  the  next  day ;  and 
Pompeius  and  the  other  leading  men,  having  previously 
addressed  the  people,  and  told  them  all  that  had  been  said, 
the  law  was  made  ready  to  be  laid  before  the  centuries ;  yet, 
strange  to  say!  Clodius,  though  deserted  by  all,  was  still 
able  to  cause  a  delay  of  two  months.  At  length  (Aug.  4) 
the  centuries  met  on  the  Field  of  Mars,  and,  by  a  unanimous 
vote,  Cicero  was  recalled. 

*  These  are  always  called  the  opercB,  (operatives.)  They  were  the 
common  workmen  of  the  city,  members  of  the  unions,  (sodalitdtes,  see 
p.  393,)  freedmen,  slaves,  &c. 

34 


'>^ 


898  HISTORY   OF   ROME. 

That  very  day  Cicero  sailed  from  Dyrrhachium  and  landed 
at  Brundisium ;  the  people  poured  out  from  every  town  and 
village  as  he  passed  to  congratulate  him,  and  all  ranks  and 
orders  at  Rome  received  him  at  the  Capene  gate.  Next  day 
he  returned  thanks  to  the  senate  and  people ;  and  to  prove 
his  gratitude  to  Pompeius,  he  was  the  proposer  of  a  law, 
giving  him  the  superintendence  of  the  corn  trade  for  a  term 
of  five  years,*  and  Pompeius  in  return  made  him  his  first 
legate.  The  senate  decreed  that  Cicero's  house  and  villas 
should  be  rebuilt  at  the  public  expense.  Cicero  then  as- 
serted that,  as  Clodius  had  become  a  plebeian  in  an  illegal 
manner,  all  the  acts  of  his  tribunate  were  equally  so,  and 
should  be  annulled.  But  here  he  was  opposed  by  Cato, 
whose  vanity  took  alarm,  and  who  feared  lest  he  should  lose 
the  fame  of  the  ability  with  which  he  had  conducted  the 
robbery  of  the  king  of  Cyprus ;  and  this  produced  a  coolness 
between  him  and  Cicero,  who  also  was  disgusted,  and  with 
reason,  with  the  conduct  of  several  of  the  other  leaders  of 
the  aristocratic  party,  at  which  we  need  not  be  surprised 
when  we  find  them,  purely  to  annoy  Pompeius,  aiding  Clo- 
dius so  effectually  that  he  was  chosen  aedile  without  opposi- 
tion. This  pest  of  Rome  immediately  accused  Milo  of  the 
very  crime  {de  vi)  of  which  he  had  been  accused  himself 
Pompeius  appeared  and  spoke  for  Milo,  and  it  came  to  a 
regular  engagement  between  their  respective  partisans,  in 
which  the  Clodians  were  worsted  and  driven  off  the  Forum. 
Pompeius  saw  that  Crassus  was  at  the  bottom  of  all  the 
insults  offered  him,  and  that  Bibulus,  Curio,  and  others  of 
the  nobles  were  anxious  to  destroy  his  influence,  and  Cicero 
agreed  to  join  him  and  repel  force  by  force  if  needful. 

Cicero  at  this  time  abstained  as  much  as  he  could  from 
public  affairs,  attending  entirely  to  the  bar.  To  understand 
his  conduct  we  must  keep  his  known  character  in  view,  in 
which  vanity  and  timidity  were  prominent ;  but  he  was  also 
grateful,  placable,  and  humane.  He  had  all  his  life  had  a 
strong  personal  affection  for  Pompeius,  and  he  was  now  full 
of  admiration  for  the  exploits  of  Caesar  in  Gaul,  while  he  was 
disgusted  with  the  paltry  conduct  of  the  leading  aristocrats. 
Hence  we  find  him,  at  the  request  of  Caesar  or  Pompeius, 
employing  his  eloquence  in  the  defence  of  even  his  personal 

*  On  the  motion  of  the  tribune  C.  Messius  it  was  added  that  Pom- 
peius should  have  as  extensive  powers  as  were  committed  to  him  in 
the  Piratic  war. 


J 


SECOND    CONSULATE    OF    POMPEIUS    AND    CRASSUS.   399 

enemies,  and  doing  things  for  which  we  sometimes  must 
pity,  sometimes  despise  him.  It  is  pleasing,  however,  to 
behold  the  triumph  of  his  eloquence  in  the  defence  of  his 
friend  Sextius,  whom  the  Clodians  had  the  audacity  to  prose- 
cute de  vi,  for  not  having  died,  we  may  suppose,  of  his 
wounds.*  Cicero  also  carried  a  motion  in  the  senate  that, 
as  there  was  not  money  in  the  treasury  to  purchase  the 
Campanian  lands,  which  by  Caesar's  law  were  to  be  divided, 
the  act  itself  should  be  reconsidered.  Finding,  however, 
that  this  was  highly  displeasing  to  Caesar  and  Pompeius,  and 
that  those  who  applauded  him  for  it  did  it  because  they  ex- 
pected it  would  produce  a  breach  between  the  latter  and 
him,  he  thought  it  best  to  consult  his  interest,  and  therefore 
dropped  it. 


CHAPTER  IX.t 

SECOND  CONSULATE  OF    POMPEIUS  AND  CRASSUS. PARTHIAN 

WAR   OF    CRASSUS.  HIS  DEFEAT  AND  DEATH. ANARCHY 

AT  ROME. DEATH  OF  CLODIUS. POMPEIUS  SOLE  CONSUL. 

TRIAL  AND  EXILE  OF  MILO. GALLIC  WARS  OF  CAESAR. 

It  was  Caesar's  custom  to  return  after  his  summer  cam- 
paigns in  Gaul  to  pass  the  winter  in  his  Cisalpine  province, 
in  order  to  keep  up  his  intercourse  with  Rome.  He  came 
in  the  present  winter  (696)  to  Luca,  (Lucca,)  on  the  verge 
of  his  province,  whither  Pompeius,  Crassus,  and  such  a 
number  of  the  Roman  magistrates  repaired,  that  one  hun- 
dred and  twenty  lictors  have  been  seen  at  a  time  at  his  gates. 
It  was  here  privately  agreed  by  the  triumvirate  that  Pom- 
peius and  Crassus  should  stand  for  the  consulate,  and  that, 
if  successful,  they  should  obtain  a  renewal  of  Caesar's  govern- 
ment for  five  years  longer.  As  the  present  consuls,  Cn. 
Cornelius  Lentulus  Marcellinus,  and  L.  Marcius  Philippus, 
were  adverse  to  the  triumvirate,  the  tribune  C.  Cato  was 

*  Like  Scaevola,  see  above,  p.  344,  note. 

t  Appian  B.  C.  ii.  17 — 25.  Dion,  xxxviii.  31,  to  the  end;  xxxix.  1 
—5,24—54;  xl.  1—57.  Csesar,  Gallic  Wars.  Plut.,  Pompeius,  Cras- 
sus, and  Caesar. 


400  HISTORY   OP   ROME. 

directed  to  impede  all  elections  for  the  rest  of  the  year ;  and, 
in  consequence  of  his  opposition,  the  consular  elections  were 
held  by  an  interrex  in  the  beginning  of  the  next  year,  (697.) 
Pompeius  and  Crassus  were  chosen  without  opposition,  for 
M.  Cato's  brother-in-law,  L.  Domitius  Ahenobarbus,  who 
alone  ventured  to  stand,  was,  we  are  told,*  attacked  by  their 
party  as  he  was  going  out  before  day  to  solicit  votes  :  the 
slave  who  carried  the  torch  before  him  was  killed ;  others 
were  wounded,  as  was  Cato  himself;  Domitius  fled  home, 
and  gave  up  his  canvass.  Cato  then  stood  for  the  praetor- 
ship  ;  the  consuls,  aware  of  the  trouble  he  would  give  them 
if  elected,  made  every  effort  to  prevent  him.  They  bribed 
extensively  for  his  opponent  P.  Vatinius,  and  procured  a 
decree  of  the  senate  that  the  praBtors  should  enter  on  their 
office  at  once,  instead  of  remaining  private  men  for  sixty 
days,  as  was  the  usual  course.  The  first  century,  however, 
when  the  election  came,  voted  for  Cato.  Pompeius,  who 
presided,  pretended  that  he  heard  thunder,  and  put  off  the 
election  ;  and  the  consuls  took  care  to  have  Vatinius  chosen 
on  the  following  one.  The  tribune  C.  Trebonius  then  by 
their  directions  proposed  a  bill,  giving  them  when  out  of 
office  the  provinces  of  Syria  and  the  Spains  for  five  years, 
with  authority  to  raise  what  troops  they  pleased ;  this  law, 
though  strongly  opposed  in  the  senate,  was  carried,  and 
then  Pompeius  proposed  and  carried  the  one  he  had  prom- 
ised Caesar. 

The  consuls  having  drawn  lots  for  their  provinces,  Syria, 
as  he  coveted,  fell  to  Crassus ;  and  Pompeius  was  equally 
well  pleased  to  have  the  Spains,  which,  as  being  at  hand,  he 
could  govern  by  his  lieutenants,  while  he  himself,  under 
pretext  of  his  office  of  inspector  of  the  corn-market,  might 
remain  at  Rome  and  enjoy  the  domestic  happiness  in  which 
he  so  much  delighted.  The  triumvirs  not  thinking  it  neces- 
sary to  interfere,  L.  Domitius  and  Ap.  Claudius  were  elected 
consuls,  and  Cato  one  of  the  praetors,  for  the  following  year, 
(698.) 

Crassus,  though  nothing  was  said  in  the  law  about  the 
Parthians,  made  little  secret  of  his  design  to  make  war  on 
them  ;  and  Caesar,  it  is  said,  wrote  encouraging  him  to  it. 
Many,  however,  were  or  affected  to  be  shocked  at  the  injus- 
tice of  making  war  on  a  people  who  had  given  no  just  cause, 
and  the  tribune  C.  Ateius  Capito  was  resolved  to  prevent  his 

*  Plut.  Cato,  41. 


PARTHIAN   WAR    OF    CRASSUS.  401 

departure.  Crassus  begged  of  Pompeius  to  see  him  out  of 
the  city,  as  he  knew  he  should  be  opposed.  Pompeius  com- 
plied with  his  request,  and  the  people  made  way  in  silence ; 
but  Ateius  meeting  them,  called  to  Crassus  to  stop,  and  when 
he  did  not  heed  him,  sent  a  beadle  to  seize  him  ;  the  other 
tribunes  however  interposed.  Ateius  then  ran  on  to  the 
gate,  and  kindling  a  fire  on  a  portable  altar,  poured  wine 
and  incense  on  it,  and  pronounced  direful  curses  on  Crassus, 
invoking  strange  and  terrible  deities. 

Heedless  of  the  tribune's  imprecations,  Crassus  proceeded 
to  Brundisium  and  embarked,  though  the  sea  was  rough  and 
stormy.  He  reached  Epirus  with  the  loss  of  several  of  his 
ships,  and  thence  took  the  usual  route  over  land  to  Syria. 
He  immediately  crossed  the  Euphrates,  and  began  to  ravage 
Mesopotamia.  Several  of  the  Greek  towns  there  cheerfully 
submitted;  but  instead  of  pushing  on,  Crassus  returned  to 
Syria  to  winter,  thus  giving  the  Parthians  time  to  collect 
their  forces.  He  spent  the  winter  busily  engaged  in  amass- 
ing treasures  :  to  a  Parthian  embassy  which  came  to  com- 
plain of  his  acts  of  aggression  he  made  a  boastful  reply, 
saying  that  he  would  give  an  answer  in  Seleucia  ;  the  eldest 
of  the  envoys  laughed,  and  showing  the  palm  of  his  hand 
said,  "Crassus'  hairs  will  grow  there  before  you  see  Se- 
leucia." 

The  Roman  soldiers,  when  they  heard  of  the  numbers  of 
the  Parthians,  and  their  %iode  of  fighting,  were  dispirited ; 
the  soothsayers  announced  evil  signs  in  the  victims ;  C. 
Cass^us,  the  quaestor,  and  his  other  officers  advised  Crassus 
to  pause,  but  in  vain.  To  as  little  effect  did  the  Armenian 
prince  Artabazes,  who  came  with  six  thousand  horse  and 
promised  many  more,  counsel  him  to  march  through  Arme- 
nia, which  was  a  hilly  country  and  adverse  to  cavalry,  in 
which  the  Parthian  strength  lay  :  he  replied  that  he  would 
go  through  Mesopotamia,  where  he  had  left  many  brave 
Romans  in  garrison.  The  Armenian  then  retired,  and 
Crassus  passed  the  river  at  Zeugma,  (699 ;)  thunder  roared, 
lightning  flashed,  and  other  ominous  signs,  it  is  said,  ap- 
peared ;  but  they  did  not  stop  him.  He  marched  along  its 
left  bank,  his  army  consisting  of  seven  legions,  with  nearly 
one  thousand  horse,  and  an  equal  number  of  light  troops. 

As  no  enemy  appeared,  Cassius  advised  to  keep  along  the 
river  till  they  reached  Seleucia ;  but  an  Arab  emir,  named 
Agbar,  (Akbar,  i.  c.  Great,)  who  had  been  on  friendly  terms 
with  the  Romans  when  Pompeius  was  there,  now  came  and 

34*  YY 


402  HISTORY    OF    ROME. 

joined  Crassus,  and  assuring  him  that  the  Parthians  were 
collecting  their  most  valuable  property  with  the  intention  of 
flying  to  Hyrcania  and  Scythia,  urged  him  to  push  on  with- 
out delay.  But  all  he  said  was  false  ;  he  was  come  to  lead 
the  Romans  to  their  ruin  :  the  Parthian  king  Orodes  had 
himself  invaded  Armenia,  and  his  general,  Surena,  was  at 
hand  with  a  large  army.  Crassus,  however,  gave  credit  to 
the  Arab ;  he  left  the  river  and  entered  on  the  extensive  plain 
of  Mesopotamia.  Cassius  gave  over  his  remonstrances  :  the 
Arab  led  them  on,  and  when  he  had  brought  them  to  the 
place  arranged  with  the  Parthians,  he  rode  off,  assuring 
Crassus  that  it  was  for  his  advantage.  That  very  day  a 
party  of  horse,  sent  to  reconnoitre,  fell  in  with  the  enemy 
and  were  nearly  all  killed.  This  intelligence  perplexed 
Crassus,  but  he  resolved  to  proceed ;  he  drew  up  his  infantry 
in  a  square,  with  the  horse  on  the  flanks,  and  moved  on. 
They  reached  a  stream,  where  his  officers  wished  him  to  halt 
for  the  night,  and  try  to  gain  further  intelligence ;  but  he 
would  go  on,  and  at  length  they  came  in  sight  of  the  enemy. 
Surena,  however,  kept  the  greater  part  of  his  troops  out  of 
view,  and  those  who  appeared  had  their  armor  covered  to 
deceive  the  Romans.  At  a  signal  the  Parthians  began  to 
beat  their  numerous  kettledrums ;  and  when  they  thought 
this  unusual  sound  had  thrilled  the  hearts  of  the  Romans, 
they  flung  off"  their  coverings,  and  appeared  glittering  in 
helms  and  corselets  of  steel,  and  pouring  round  the  solid 
mass  of  the  Romans,  showered  their  arrows  on  them,  numer- 
ous camels  being  at  hand  laden  with  arrows  to  supply  them. 
The  light  troops  vainly  essayed  to  drive  them  off";  Crassus 
then  desired  his  son  to  charge  with  his  horse  and  light  troops. 
The  Parthians,  feigning  flight,  drew  them  on,  and  when  they 
were  at  a  sufficient  distance  from  the  main  army,  they  turned 
and  assailed  them,  riding  round  and  round  so  as  to  raise  such 
a  dust  that  the  Romans  could  not  see  to  defend  themselves. 
When  numbers  had  been  slain,  P.  Crassus  broke  through 
with  a  part  of  the  horse  and  reached  an  eminence,  but  the 
persevering  foe  gave  them  no  rest.  Two  Greeks  of  that 
country  proposed  to  P.  Crassus  to  escape  with  them  in  the 
night,  but  he  generously  refused  to  quit  his  comrades.  Be- 
ing wounded,  he  made  his  shield-bearer  kill  him  ;  the  Par- 
thians slew  all  that  were  with  him  but  five  hundred,  and 
cutting  off"  his  head  set  it  on  a  spear. 

Crassus  was  advancing  to  the  relief  of  his  son  when  the 
rolling  of  the  Parthians'  drums  was  heard,  and  they  came 


DEFEAT    OF    CRASSUS.  403 

exhibiting  the  head  of  his  son.  The  spirits  of  the  Romans 
were  now  quite  depressed  ;  Crassus  vainly  tried  to  rouse  them, 
crying  that  the  loss  was  his  not  theirs,  and  urging  them 
to  renewed  exertions.  The  Parthians  after  harassing  them 
through  the  day  retired  for  the  night.  Cassius  and  the  le- 
gate Octavius,  having  vainly  tried  to  rouse  their  general,  who 
was  now  sunk  in  despair,  called  a  council  of  the  officers, 
and  it  was  resolved  to  attempt  a  retreat  that  night.  The 
wailing  of  the  sick  and  wounded  who  were  left  behind  in- 
formed the  Parthians,  but  it  not  being  their  custom  to  fight 
at  night  they  remained  quiet  till  morning.  They  then  took 
the  deserted  camp  and  slaughtered  four  thousand  men  whom 
they  found  in  it,  and  pursuing  after  the  arniy  cut  off  the 
stragglers.  The  Romans  reached  the  town  of  Carrhae,  in 
which  they  had  a  garrison.  Surena,  to  keep  them  from  re- 
treat, made  feigned  proposals  of  peace  ;  but  finding  that  he 
was  only  deceiving  them,  they  set  out  in  the  night  under  the 
guidance  of  a  Greek  :  their  guide  however  proved  treacher- 
ous, and  led  them  into  a  place  full  of  marshes  and  ditches. 
Cassius,  who  suspected  him,  turned  back  and  made  his  es- 
cape with  five  hundred  horse  ;  Octavius  with  five  thousand 
men,  having  had  faithful  guides,  reached  a  secure  position 
among  the  hills,  and  he  brought  off  Crassus,  who  was  assailed 
in  the  marshes  by  the  Parthians.  Surena,  fearing  lest  they 
should  get  off  in  the  night,  let  go  some  of  his  prisoners,  in 
whose  hearing  he  had  caused  to  be  said  that  the  king  did  not 
wish  to  carry  things  to  extremities ;  and  he  himself  and  his 
officers  rode  to  the  hill  with  unbent  bows,  and  holding  out 
his  hand  he  called  on  Crassus  to  come  down  and  meet  him. 
The  soldiers  were  overjoyed,  but  Crassus  put  no  faith  in  him; 
at  length  when  his  men,  having  urged  and  pressed,  began  to 
abuse  and  threaten  him,  he  took  his  officers  to  witness  of 
the  force  that  was  put  on  him,  and  went  down  accompanied 
by  Octavius  and  some  of  his  other  officers.  The  Parthians 
at  first  affected  to  receive  him  with  respect,  and  a  horse  was 
brought  for  him  to  mount ;  but  they  soon  contrived  to  pick 
a  quarrel,  and  killed  him  and  all  who  were  with  him.  The 
head  and  right  hand  of  Crassus  were  cut  off;  quarter  was 
then  offered  to  the  troops,  and  most  of  them  surrendered. 
The  loss  of  the  Romans  in  this  unjust  and  ill-fated  expedi- 
tion was  20,000  slain  and  10,000  captured.  The  Parthians, 
it  is  said,  poured  molten  gold  down  the  throat  of  Crassus,  in 
reproach  of  his  insatiable  avarice.  They  afterwards  made 
irruptions  into  Syria,  which  Cassius  gallantly  defended 
against  them. 


404  HISTORY   OF    ROME. 

When  thei  news  of  Crassus'  defeat  and  death  reached 
Rome,  the  concern  felt  for  the  loss  of  the  army  was  consid- 
erable, that  of  himself  was  thought  nothing  of;  yet  this  was 
in  reality  the  greater  loss  of  the  two,  for  he  alone  had  the 
power  to  keep  Caesar  and  Pompeius  at  unity,  as  Julia,  whom 
they  both  agreed  in  loving  as  she  deserved,  and  who  was  a 
bond  of  union  between  them,  had  lately  died  in  childbirth, 
to  the  grief  not  merely  of  her  father  and  husband,  but  of  the 
whole  Roman  people. 

Affairs  at  Rome  were  now  indeed  in  a  state  of  perfect  an- 
archy ;  violence  and  bribery  were  the  only  modes  of  obtain- 
ing office.  In  698,  all  the  candidates  for  the  consulate  were 
prosecuted  for  bribery ;  and  C.  Memmius,  one  of  them,  ac- 
tually read  in  the  senate  a  written  agreement  between  him- 
self and  a  fellow-candidate  Cn.  Domitius  Calvinus  on  one 
part,  and  the  consuls  L.  Domitius  and  Ap.  Claudius  on  the 
other,  by  which  the  two  former  bound  themselves,  if  elected 
through  the  consuls'  influence,  to  pay  them  each  40,000 
sesterces  unless  they  produced  three  augurs  to  declare  that 
they  were  present  when  the  curiate  law  was  passed,  and  two 
consul ars  to  aver  that  they  were  present  when  the  consular 
provinces  were  arranged,  which  would  give  the  ex-consuls 
the  provinces  they  desired,  —  all  utterly  false.*  By  these 
and  other  delays  the  elections  were  kept  off  for  seven  months, 
Pompeius  looking  quietly  on  in  hopes  that  they  would  be 
obliged  to  create  him  dictator.  Many  spoke  of  it  as  the 
only  remedy  ;  and  though  they  did  not  name,  they  described 
him  very  exactly  as  the  fittest  person ;  but  Sulla  had  made 
the  name  of  dictator  too  odious  :  others  talked  of  consular 
military  tribunes.  Cn.  Domitius  Calvinus  and  M.  Valerius 
Messala  were,  however,  chosen  consuls  at  the  end  of  the 
seven  months,  (699.) 

The  next  year  (700)  T.  Annius  Milo  was  among  the  can- 
didates, and  he  bribed  to  a  most  enormous  extent.  Clodius 
stood  for  the  prsetorship,  and  between  his  retainers  and  those 
of  Milo  and  the  other  candidates  scenes  of  tumult  and 
bloodshed  occurred  in  the  streets  almost  daily.  Pompeius 
and  the  tribune  L.  Munatius  Plancus  purposely  kept  the  pa- 
tricians from  meeting  to  appoint  an  interrex  to  hold  the  elec- 
tions. During  this  time  Milo,  who  was  dictator  of  his  native 
place  Lanuvium,  had  occasion  to  go  thither  to  appoint  a 
chief-priest ;  Clodius,  who  had  been  to  harangue  the  magis- 

•  Cicero  ad  Att.  iv.  18. 


DEATH    OF    CLODIUS.  405 

trates  at  Aricia,  where  he  had  a  great  deal  of  influence,  hap- 
pened to  be  returning  just  at  this  time,  and  he  met  Milo 
near  BovilljB.  Milo  was  in  his  carriage  with  his  wife,  the 
daughter  of  Sulla,  and  a  friend,  and  he  was  attended  by  a 
numerous  train,  among  which  were  some  of  his  gladiators : 
Clodius  was  on  horseback,  with  thirty  armed  bravos,  who 
always  accompanied  him.  Two  of  Milo's  people  followed 
those  of  Clodius  and  began  to  quarrel  with  them,  and  when 
he  turned  round  to  menace  them,  one  of  them  ran  a  long 
sword  through  his  shoulder.  The  tumult  then  became  gen- 
eral ;  Clodius  had  been  conveyed  into  an  adjoining  tavern, 
but  Milo  forced  it,  dragged  him  out,  and  killed  him  out- 
right ;  his  dead  body  was  thrown  on  the  highway,  where  it 
lay  till  a  senator,  who  was  returning  to  the  city  from  his 
country  seat,  took  it  up  and  brought  it  with  him  in  his  litter. 
It  was  laid  in  the  hall  of  Clodius'  own  house,  and  his  wife 
Fulvia  with  floods  of  tears  showed  his  bleeding  wounds  to 
the  rabble  who  repaired  thither,  and  excited  them  to  ven- 
geance. Next  morning  Clodius'  friends,  the  tribunes  Q. 
Pompeius  Rufus  and  L.  Munatius  Plancus,  exposed  it  on  the 
Rostra,  and  harangued  the  populace  over  it.  The  mob 
snatched  it  up,  carried  it  into  the  senate-house,  and  making 
a  pyre  of  the  seats  burned  it  and  the  house  together.  They 
^hen  ran  to  Milo's  house  intending  to  burn  it  also,  but  they 
were  beaten  off"  by  his  slaves. 

The  excesses  committed  by  the  mob  having  injured  the 
Clodian  cause,  Milo  ventured  to  return  to  the  city,  and  to  go 
on  bribing  and  canvassing  for  the  consulate.  The  tribune 
M.  Coelius,  whom  he  had  gained,  having  filled  the  Forum 
with  a  purchased  mob,  led  Milo  thither  to  defend  himself,  in 
hopes  of  Having  him  acquitted  by  them  as  by  the  people ; 
but  the  adverse  tribunes  armed  their  partisans  and  fell  on 
and  scattered  them.  Milo  and  Coelius  were  forced  to  fly  in 
the  dress  of  slaves ;  the  rabble  killed,  wounded,  and  robbed 
without  distinction;  houses  were  broken  open,  plundered, 
and  burnt,  under  the  pretext  of  seeking  for  the  friends  of 
Milo,  These  excesses  lasted  for  several  days,  and  the  senate 
at  length  decreed  that  the  interrex,  the  tribunes  of  the  peo- 
ple, and  Pompeius,  should  see  that  the  republic  sustained  no 
injury ;  and  finally,  as  there  seemed  an  absolute  necessity 
for  some  extraordinary  power,  to  avoid  a  dictatorship,  and  to 
exclude  Caesar  (who  was  spoken  of)  from  the  consulate,  it 
was  resolved  on  the  motion  of  Bibulus,  with  the  assent  of 
Cato,  to  make  Pompeius  sole  consul. 


406  HISTORY   OF   ROME. 

Pompeius,  as  soon  as  he  entered  on  his  office,  had  two 
laws  passed,  one  against  violence,  the  other  against  bribery. 
He  himself  selected  the  persons  who  were  to  act  as  judges ; 
regulated  the  number  of  pleaders  in  a  cause ;  gave  two  hours 
to  the  prosecutor  to  speak,  three  to  the  accused  to  reply, 
and  forbade  any  one  to  come  forward  to  praise  the  accused. 
To  insure  prosecutions  for  bribery,  he  promised  a  pardon  to 
any  one  found  guilty  of  it  if  he  convicted  two  others  of  an 
equal  or  lesser  degree,  or  one  of  a  greater. 

These  preparations  being  made,  the  prosecution  of  Mijo 
commenced.  L.  Domitius  Ahenobarbus,  the  consul  of  the 
year  698,  was  chosen  president  by  the  people,  and  a  jury, 
one  of  the  most  respectable  we  are  assured  that  Rome  ever 
beheld,  was  appointed.  Milo  and  Coelius  had  recourse  to 
every  means  to  prevent  a  conviction.  The  former  was 
charged  with  having  seized  five  persons  who  had  witnessed 
the  murder  of  Clodius,  and  kept  them  in  close  custody  for 
two  months  at  his  country  seat ;  the  latter  with  taking  by 
force  one  of  Milo's  slaves  out  of  the  house  of  one  of  the 
Triumviri  Capitales.*  Cicero  was  to  plead  Milo's  cause. 
On  the  first  day  the  tumult  was  so  great  that  the  lives  of 
Pompeius  and  his  lictors  were  endangered;  he  had  therefore 
soldiers  placed  in  various  parts  of  the  city  and  Forum,  with 
orders  to  strike  with  the  flat  of  their  swords  any  that  were 
making  a  noise  ;  but  this  not  sufficing,  they  were  obliged  to 
wound  and  even  kill  several  persons.  When  quiet  was  re- 
stored, Cicero  advanced  to  speak.  He  was  received  with  a 
loud  shout  of  defiance  by  the  Clodian  faction  ;  and  the  sight 
of  Pompeius  sitting  surrounded  by  his  officers,  and  the  view 
of  the  temples  and  places  around  the  Forum  filled  with 
armed  men,  so  daunted  him,  that  he  pleaded  with  far  less 
than  his  usual  ability.  Milo  was  found  guilty,  and  he  went 
into  exile  at  Masilia. 

Other  offenders  were  then  prosecuted.  P.  Plautius  Hyp- 
S8BUS  was  found  guilty  of  bribery,  as  also  were  P.  Sextius, 
C.  Memmius,  and  M.  Scaurus.  This  last  then  accused, 
under  the  late  law,  Pompeius'  own  father-in-law,  Q.  Metel- 
lus  Scipio.f     Pompeius  was  weak  enough  to  become  a  sup- 

*  The  best  account  of  the  death  of  Clodius,  and  trial  of  Milo,  is 
OTven  by  Asconius,  in  his  argument  to  the  notes  on  Cicero's  oration. 
We  have  followed  this  writer  chiefly  in  the  preceding  narrative. 

t  Pompeius  was  now  married  to  Scipio's  daughter  Cornelia,  the 
widow  of  the  younger  Crassus,  a  young  lady  of  the  highest  mental 
endowments  and  of  great  beauty  and  virtue. 


GALWC    WARS    OF    CiESAR.  407 

pliant  for  him,  and  he  sent  for  the  three  hundred  and  sixty 
persons  who  were  on  the  jury-panel,  and  besought  them  to 
aid  him.  When  Memmius  saw  Scipio  come  into  the  Forum 
surrounded  by  those  who  would  have  to  try  him,  he  gave 
over  the  prosecution,  lamenting  the  ruin  of  the  constitution. 
Rufus  and  Plancus  when  out  of  office  were  prosecuted  for 
the  burning  of  the  senate-house,  and  Pompeius  again  was 
weak  enough  to  break  his  own  law  by  sending  a  written 
eulogy  of  Plancus  into  the  court.  Cato,  who  was  one  of  the 
jury,  said  that  Pompeius  must  not  be  allowed  to  violate  his 
own  law.  Plancus  then  challenged  Cato ;  but  it  did  not 
avail  him,  as  the  others  found  him  guilty. 

Pompeius,  having  acted  for  some  time  as  sole  consul,  made 
his  father-in-law  his  colleague  for  the  five  months  that  re- 
mained of  his  consulate.  He  had  his  own  command  in 
Spain  extended  for  another  term  of  five  years,  but  he  gov- 
erned his  province,  as  before,  by  legates ;  and  to  soothe 
Caesar,  he  had  a  law  passed  to  enable  him  to  sue  for  the 
consulate  without  coming  to  Rome  in  person.  To  strengthen 
the  laws  against  bribery,  it  was  enacted  that  no  consul  or 
praetor  should  obtain  a  province  till  he  had  been  five  years 
out  of  office ;  and  to  provide  for  the  next  five  years,  it  was 
decreed  that  the  consulars  and  praetorians  who  had  not  had 
provinces  should  now  take  them.  Cicero,  therefore,  much 
against  his  will,  was  obliged  to  go  as  proconsul  to  Cilicia  ; 
his  government  of  it  was  a  model  of  justice  and  disinterested- 
ness, and  proves  how  he  would  have  acted  if  free  at  all  times 
to  follow  his  own  inclinations,  and,  we  must  add,  if  less  under 
the  influence  of.  vainglory  and  ambition.  We  must  now 
turn  our  regards  to  Caesar  and  his  exploits  in  Gaul. 

While  such  was  the  condition  of  aff*airs  at  Rome,  this 
great  man  was  acquiring  the  wealth  and  forming  the  army 
by  means  of  which  he  hoped  to  become  master  of  his  coun- 
try. He  has  himself  left  a  narrative  of  his  Gallic  campaigns, 
which,  though  of  course  partial,*  is  almost  our  only  author- 
ity for  this  part  of  the  Roman  history. 

Fortune  favored  Caesar  by  furnishing  him  with  an  early 
occasion  of  war,  though  his  province  was  quite  tranquil 
when  he  received  it,  (694.)  The  Helvetians,  a  people  of 
Gallic  race,  who  dwelt  from  Mount  Jura  far  into  the  Alps, 
resolved  to  leave  their  mountains  and  seek  new  seats  in 

*  Here,  as  in  the  Punic  wars,  we  have  reason  to  regret  that  the  hons 
were  not  painters ! 


408  HISTORY   OP   ROME. 

Gaul ;  and  having  burnt  all  their  towns  and  villages,  they 
set  forth  vi^ith  wives  and  children  to  the  number  of  350,000 
souls.  As  their  easier  way  lay  through  the  JEloman  province, 
they  sent,  on  hearing  that  Caesar  had  broken  down  the 
bridge  over  the  Rhone  at  Geneva,  and  was  making  prepara- 
tions to  oppose  them,  to  ask  a  free  passage,  promising  to  do 
no  injury.  Caesar,  who  had  not  all  his  troops  with  him,  gave 
an  eVasive  answer,  and  meantime  ran  a  ditch  and  rampart 
from  the  Leman  lake  to  Mount  Jura.  The  Helvetians  then 
turned,  and  going  by  Mount  Jura  entered  the  country  of  the 
Sequanians  and  iEduans ;  but  Caesar  fell  on  them  as  they 
were  passing  the  Arar,  (Saone,)  and  defeated  them ;  he 
afterwards  routed  them  again,  and  finally  compelled  them 
to  return  to  their  own  country,  lest  the  Germans  should 
occupy  it. 

The  ^duans,  who  were  ancient  allies  of  Rome,  then  com- 
plained to  Caesar  that  their  neighbors,  the  Arvernians  and 
Sequanians,  having  in  their  disputes  with  them  invited  a  Ger- 
man chief  named  Ariovistus  (Heer-furst,  'Army-prince?') 
to  their  aid,  he  had  occupied  a  part  of  the  land  of  the  Se- 
quanians, and  now  inenaced  the  freedom  of  all  the  surround- 
ing peoples ;  their  only  hopes,  they  added,  lay  in  the  Ro- 
mans. This  invitation  was,  as  they  knew,  precisely  what 
Caesar  desired  ;  he  promised  aid,  and  as  in  his  consulate  he 
had  had  Ariovistus  acknowledged  as  a  king  and  friend  of  the 
Roman  people,  and  he  now  wished  to  put  him  in  the  wrong, 
he  sent  to  require  him  to  meet  him  at  a  certain  place.  The 
German  haughtily  replied,  that  if  Caesar  wanted  to  speak 
with  him  hie  should  come  to  him.  Caesar,  further  to  irritate 
him,  desired  him  to  give  back  the  hostages  of  the  allies  of 
Rome,  and  not  to  enter  their  lands  or  to  bring  over  any  more 
auxiliaries  from  Germany.  Ariovistus  replied  by  seizing  on 
the  Sequanian  town  of  Besontion,  (Besangon.)  On  learning 
that  the  powerful  nation  of  the  Suevians  were  sending  troops 
to  Ariovistus,  Caesar  resolved  to  march  against  him  at  once. 
But  his  soldiers  were  daunted  by  what  they  heard  of  the 
strength  and  ferocity  of  the  Germans,  till  he  made  a  speech 
to  reassure  them,  in  which  he  declared  that  with  the  tenth 
legion  alone  he  would  prosecute  the  war.  At  the  desire  of 
Ariovistus  a  conference  was  held,  at  which  however  nothing 
could  be  arranged  ;  and  while  it  was  going  on,  news  (true 
or  false)  was  brought  to  Caesar  that  the  Germans  had  at- 
tacked the  Romans;  this  broke  off  the  conference;  Caesar 


GALLIC    WARS    OF    C-ESAR.  409 

refused  to  renew  it ;  and  a  battle  taking  place,  Ariovistus 
was  defeated,  and  forced  to  recross  the  Rhine. 

Caesar  then  retired  for  the  winter  to  Cisalpine  Gaul,  under 
the  pretext  of  regulating  the  province,  but  in  reality  to  keep 
up  his  communication  with  Rome,  and  acquire  new  friends 
there.  As  he  had  left  his  troops  in  the  country  of  the  Se- 
quanians,  the  Belgians,  a  powerful  people,  who  were  a  mix- 
ture of  Germans  and  Gauls,  and  dwelt  in  the  north-east  of 
Gaul,  fearing  for  their  independence,  resolved  to  take  up 
arms.  The  Germans  on  this  side  of  the  Rhine  joined  them, 
and  they  invaded  (695)  the  states  in  alliance  with  the  Ro- 
mans. Caesar  lost  no  time  in  repairing  to  the  defence  of  his 
allies ;  and  the  Belgians  finding  that  the  ^Eduans  had  in- 
vaded their  country,  and  moreover,  being  in  want  of  supplies, 
returned  home ;  but  they  were  fallen  on  and  defeated  with 
great  loss  by  a  division  of  Caesar's  troops,  and  he  himself 
entering  their  country  took  the  town  of  Noviodunum, 
(Noyon,)  and  obliged  the  Suessiones,  (Soissons,)*  Bellava- 
cans,  (Beauvais,)  and  Ambianians  (Amiens)  to  sue  for  peace. 
He  then  entered  the  territory  of  the  Nervians,  (Hainault.) 
This  people,  the  bravest  of  the  Belgians,  attacked  him  by 
surprise,  routed  his  cavalry,  and  killed  all  the  centurions  of 
two  legions  ;  the  camps  on  both  sides  were  taken,  and  Caesar 
himself  was  for  some  time  surrounded  with  his  guards  on  a 
hill :  victory,  however,  was  finally  on  the  side  of  the  Romans, 
and  the  Nervians  sued  for  peace.  The  Atuaticans,  when 
they  saw  the  military  machines  advanced  against  their  walls, 
submitted  ;  but  they  resumed  their  arms,  and  Caesar  took 
and  plundered  the  town,  and  sold  53,000  of  the  inhabitants. 
Caesar's  legate,  P.  Crassus,  who  (we  are  not  told  why)  had 
led  a  legion  against  the  Venetans  (Vannes)  and  other  neigh- 
boring peoples  on  the  Ocean,  now  sent  to  say  that  they  had 
submitted.  The  legions  were  then  placed  for  the  winter  in 
the  country  of  the  Carnutes,  (Chartres,)  Andes,  (Anjou,) 
and  Turones,  (Tourraine,)  and  Caesar  returned  to  Italy. 
On  the  motion  of  Cicero  the  senate  decreed  a  supplication 
of  fifteen  days  for  these  victories,  —  the  longest  ever  as  yet 
decreed. 

During  the  winter  P.  Crassus,  who  was  quartered  with 
the  seventh  legion  in  the  country  of  the  Andes,  being  in 
want  of  corn  sent  some  of  his  officers  to  apply  for  some  to 

*  As  in  France  the  name  of  the  people  is  usually  retained  only  in 
that  of  the  town,  we  give  this  last. 

35  zz 


410  HISTORY   OF    ROME. 

the  Venetans  and  the  adjoining  peoples.  The  Venetans 
however  detained  the  envoys,  in  order  to  get  back  their 
hostages  in  exchange,  and  the  rest  followed  their  example. 
Caesar,  when  he  heard  of  this,  sent  directions  to  have  ships 
of  war  built  on  the  Ligeris,  (Loire,)  and  ordered  sailors  and 
pilots  to  repair  thither  from  the  province,  and  in  the  spring 
(696)  he  set  out  to  take  the  command  in  person.  The 
Venetans  were  a  seafaring  people,  their  towns  mostly  lay 
on  capes,  where  they  could  not  easily  be  attacked,  and 
their  navy  was  numerous.  The  contest  Caesar  saw  must  be 
on  the  sea,  and  his  fleet  therefore  entered  the  ocean.  The 
Roman  ships  of  war  were,  as  usual,  impelled  by  oars,  while 
those  of  the  enemy,  which  were  also  much  higher,  were 
worked  by  sails.  At  first  the  advantage  was  on  the  side  of 
the  Gauls;  but  Caesar  had  provided  a  number  of  scythes  set 
on  poles,  with  which  the  Romans  laid  hold  on  the  rigging 
of  the  Gallic  ships,  and  then  urging  on  their  own,  thus  cut 
the  cordage,  and  caused  the  sails  to  fall.  This  device,  like 
that  of  the  ravens  in  the  old  times,  gave  the  Romans  the 
victory :  a  sudden  calm  that  came  on  was  also  greatly  in 
their  favor.  The  Venetans  were  forced  to  sue  for  peace, 
and  as  they  had  only  detained  his  agents,  Caesar  was  merci- 
fully content  with  putting  their  whole  senate  to  death,  and 
selling  the  people  for  slaves. 

As  the  Morinians  and  Menapians  of  the  north  coast  (Pi- 
cardy)  had  been  in  league  with  the  Venetans,  Caesar  invaded 
their  country,  which  abounded  in  woods  and  marshes;  but. 
the  approach  of  the  wet  season  obliged  him  to  retire.  Hav- 
ing put  his  troops  into  winter  quarters,  he  set  out  to  look 
after  his  affairs  in  Italy,  and  had  the  meeting  at  Luca  with 
Pompeius  and  Crassus  above  related.  During  this  summer 
P.  Crassus,  who  had  been  sent  into  Aquitaine  to  keep  it 
quiet,  or  rather,  as  it  would  appear,  to  raise  a  war,  routed 
the  Sotiates,  (Sos,)  forced  their  chief  town  to  surrender ; 
and  defeated  a  large  army  of  the  adjoining  peoples,  and  the 
Spaniards  who  had  joined  them.  Shortly  after  he  left  Gaul 
to  join  his  father  in  Syria,  taking  with  him  1000  Gallic 
horse. 

Tribes  of  Germans  named  Usipetes  and  Tencterians  hav- 
ing crossed  the  Rhine  and  entered  the  Menapian  country, 
Caesar  feared  lest  their  presence  might  induce  the  Gauls  to 
rise,  and  hastened  (697)  to  oppose  them.  Some  negotiations 
took  place  between  them,  during  which  (if  we  may  credit 
Caesar)  a  body  of  eight  hundred  German  horse  fell  on,  and 


t 


GALLIC    WARS    OF    CJESAR.  411 

even  put  to  flight  with  a  loss  of  seventy-four  men,  five  thou- 
sand Roman  cavalry ;  and  they  then  had  the  audacity  to 
send  an  embassy,  in  which  were  all  their  principal  men,  to 
the  Roman  camp  to  justify  themselves  and  to  seek  another 
truce.  But  Caesar  was  even  with  them;  he  detained  the 
envoys,  and,  having  thus  deprived  them  of  their  leaders,  fell 
on  and  slaughtered  them  ;  and  most  of  those  who  escaped 
were  drowned  in  the  Rhine  and  Meuse  as  they  fled.  Being 
resolved  that  Gaul  should  be  all  his  own,  Caesar  thought  it 
would  be  well  to  show  the  Germans  that  their  country  too 
might  be  invaded.  Accordingly,  under  the  pretext  of  aiding 
the  Ubians  against  the  Suevians,  he  threw  a  bridge  over  the 
Rhine,  and  having  ravaged  the  lands  of  the  Sicambrians, 
who  had  retired  to  their  woods,  he  entered  the  country  of 
the  Ubians  ;  then  hearing  that  the  Suevians  had  collected  all 
their  forces  in  the  centre  of  their  territory,  and  waited  there 
to  give  him  battle,  he  returned  to  the  Rhine,  having,  as  he 
says,  accomplished  all  he  had  proposed.  This  run  into 
Germany  had  occupied  but  eighteen  days ;  and  as  there  was 
a  part  of  the  summer  remaining,  he  resolved  to  employ  it  in 
a  similar  inroad  into  the  isle  of  Britain,  whose  people  had 
been  so  audacious  as  to  send  aid  to  the  Gauls  when  fighting 
for  their  independence  against  him :  moreover,  the  invasion 
of  unknown  countries,  like  Germany  and  Britain,  would  tell 
well  at  Rome.  He  accordingly  had  ships  brought  round 
from  the  Loire  to  the  Morinian  coast,  (Boulogne,)  and 
putting  two  legions  on  board  he  set  sail  at  midnight.  At 
nine  next  morning  he  reached  the  coast  of  Britain ;  but  as 
the  cliffs  (Dover)  were  covered  with  armed  men,  he  cast 
anchor,  and  in  the  evening  sailed  eight  miles  further  down, 
(Deal,)  and  there  effected  a  landing,  though  vigorously  op- 
posed by  the  natives.  The  Britons  soon  sent  to  sue  for 
peace ;  and  they  had  given  some  of  the  hostages  demanded 
of  them,  when  a  spring-tide  having  greatly  damaged  the 
Roman  fleet,  they  resolved  to  try  again  the  fate  of  war. 
They  fell  on  the  seventh  legion  as  it  was  out  foraging,  and 
Caesar  had  some  difficulty  in  bringing  it  off*;  they  afterwards 
assailed  the  Roman  camp,  but  were  repulsed,  and  Caesar, 
who  had  neither  cavalry  nor  corn,  and  who  wanted  to  get 
back  to  Gaul,  readily  made  peace  on  their  promise  of  send- 
ing a  double  number  of  hostages  thither  after  him.  He  then 
departed  ;  and  having  written  the  wonderful  news  to  Rome, 
a  supplication  of  twenty  days  was  decreed. 
As  but  two  of  the  British  states  sent  the  hostages,  Caesai' 


412  HISTORY    OF    ROME. 

resolved  to  make  this  a  pretext  for  a  second  invasion  of  their 
island.  When,  therefore,  he  was  setting  out  as  usual  for 
Italy,  he  directed  his  legates  to  repair  the  old  and  build  new 
ships ;  and  on  his  return  in  the  spring  (698)  he  found  a 
fleet  of  twenty-eight  long  ships  and  six  hundred  transports 
ready.  He  embarked  with  five  legions  and  two  thousand 
Gallic  horse,  and  landed  at  the  same  place  as  before.  The 
Britons  retired  to  the  hills;  and  Caesar,  having  left  some 
troops  to  guard  his  camp,  advanced  in  quest  of  them.  He 
found  them  posted  on  the  banks  of  a  river,  (the  Stour,)  about 
twelve  miles  inlands.  He  attacked  and  drove  them  off;  but 
next  day,  as  he  was  preparing  to  advance  into  the  country, 
he  was  recalled  to  the  coast  by  tidings  of  the  damage  his 
fleet  had  sustained  from  a  storm  during  the  night.  Having 
given  the  needful  directions,  he  resumed  his  pursuit  of  the 
Britons,  who  laying  aside  their  jealousies  had  given  the  su- 
preme command  to  Cassivelaunus,  king  of  the  Trinobantes, 
(Essex  and  Middlesex  ;)  but  the  Roman  fcavalry  cut  them  up 
so  dreadfully  when  they  attacked  the  foragers,  that  they 
dispersed,  and  most  of  them  went  to  their  homes.  Caesar 
then  advanced,  and  having  forced  the  passage  of  the  Thames 
invaded  Cassivelaunus'  kingdom,  and  took  his  chief  town ;  * 
and  having  received  the  submissions  and  hostages  of  various 
states,  and  regulated  the  tributes  they  should  (but  never  did) 
pay,  he  returned  to  Gaul,  where  it  being  now  late  in  autumn, 
he  put  his  troops  into  winter  quarters.  The  Gauls,  however, 
who  did  not  comprehend  the  right  of  Rome  and  Caesar  to  a 
dominion  over  them,  resolved  to  fall  on  the  several  Roman 
camps,  and  thus  to  free  their  country.  The  eighth  legion 
and  five  cohorts  who  were  quartered  in  the  country  of  the 
Eburones  (Liege)  were  cut  to  pieces  by  that  people,  led  by 
their  prince  Ambiorix ;  the  camp  of  the  legate  Q.  Cicero 
was  assailed  by  the  Eburones  and  the  Nervians,  and  only 
saved  by  the  arrival  of  Caesar  in  person,  who  gave  the  Gauls 
a  total  defeat.  The  country  became  now  tolerably  tranquil ; 
but  Caesar,  knowing  that  he  should  have  a  war  in  the  spring, 
had  three  new  legions  raised  in  Italy,  and  he  prevailed  on 
Pompeius  to  lend  him  one  which  he  had  just  formed. 

The  most  remarkable  event  of  the  following  year  (699) 
was  Caesar's  second  passage  of  the  Rhine  to  punish  the 

*  The  British  towns  were  merely  fastnesses  in  the  woods,  without 
any  walls ;  their  dwellings  were  mere  cabins.  The  Britons  were 
much  behind  the  Gauls  in  civilization. 


GALLIC    WARS    OF    C^iSAR.  413 

Germans  for  giving  aid  to  their  oppressed  neighbors.  He 
'threw  a  bridge  over  the  Rhine  a  little  higher  up  the  river 
than  the  former  one,  and  advanced  to  attack  the  Suevians ; 
but  learning  that  they  had  assembled  all  their  forces  at  the 
edge  of  a  forest  and  there  awaited  him,  he  thought  it  ad- 
visable to  retire,  fearing,  as  he  tells  us,  the  want  of  corn  in 
a  country  where  there  was  so  little  tillage  as  in  Germany.* 
Having  broken  down  the  bridge  on  the  German  side,  and 
left  some  cohorts  to  guard  what  remained  standing,  he  then 
proceeded  with  all  humanity  to  extirpate  the  Eburones,  on 
account,  he  says,  of  their  perfidy.  He  hunted  them  down 
every  where ;  he  burned  their  towns  and  villages,  consumed 
or  destroyed  all  their  corn,  and  then  left  their  country  with 
the  agreeable  assurance  that  those  who  had  escaped  the 
sword  would  perish  of  famine.  Then,  having  executed  more 
majorum  a  prince  of  the  Senones,  and  thus  tranquillized 
Gaul,  as  he  terms  it,  h^  set  out  for  Italy  to  look  after  his 
interests  there. 

The  next  year  (700)  there  was  a  general  rising  of  nearly 
all  Gaul  against  the  Roman  dominion.  The  chief  command 
was  given  to  Vercingetorix,  prince  of  the  Arvernians,  (Au- 
vergne,)  a  young  man  of  great  talent  and  valor.  Caesar 
immediately  left  Italy,  and  crossing  Mount  Cebenna,  (Ce- 
vennes,)  though  the  snow  lay  six  feet  deep  on  it,  at  the  head 
of  his  raw  levies  entered  and  ravaged  the  country  of  the 
Arvernians,  who  sent  to  recall  Vercingetorix  to  their  aid. 
Then  leaving  M.  Brutus  in  command,  Caesar  departed,  and 
putting  himself  at  the  head  of  his  cavalry,  went  with  all 
speed  to  the  country  of  the  Lingones,  (Langres,)  and  there 
assembled  his  legions.  Vercingetorix  then  laid  siege  to 
Gergovia,  in  the  country  of  the  Bituriges  :  Csesar  hastened 
to  his  relief;  on  his  way  he  took  the  towns  of  Vellanodunum 
(Beaune)  and  Genabum,  (Orleans,)  and  having  crossed  the 
Loire,  laid  siege  to  Noviodunum,  (Nouan,)  and  on  its  sur- 
render advanced  against  Avaricum,  (Bourges,)  the  capital 
of  the  country,  and  one  of  the  finest  cities  in  Gaul.  Vercin- 
getorix, who  had  raised  the  siege  of  Gergovia,  held  a  council, 
in  which  he  proposed,  as  the  surest  mode  of  distressing  the 
Romans,  to  destroy  all  the  towns  and  villages  in  the  country. 
This  advice  being  approved  of,  upwards  of  twenty  towns 
were  levelled ;  but,  at  the  earnest  entreaty  of  the  Bituriges, 
Avaricum  v^as  exempted ;  a  garrison  was  put  into  it,  and 

•  We  may  suspect  that  he  feared  something  else  also. 


414  -     HISTORY   OF   ROME. 

the  Gallic  army  encamped  at  a  moderate  distance  from  the 
town  in  order  to  impede  the  besiegers.  Avaricum  never- 
theless was  taken  after  a  gallant  defence :  the  Romans  spared 
neither  man,  woman,  nor  child ;  and  of  forty  thousand  in- 
habitants eight  hundred  only  escaped.  Caesar  then  laid 
siege  to  a  town  also  named  Gergovia;  but,  though  he  de- 
feated the  Gallic  armies,  he  was  obliged  to  raise  it  on  account 
of  the  revolt  of  the  ^Eduans.  Some  time  after,  Vercingeto- 
rix,  having  attacked  Caesar  on  his  march,  and  being  repulsed, 
threw  himself  into  Alesia,  a  strong  town  in  the  modern 
Burgundy,  built  on  a  hill  at  the  confluence  of  two  rivers. 
The  Gauls  collected  a  large  army  and  came  to  its  relief; 
but  their  forces  were  defeated,  and  the  town  was  compelled 
to  surrender.  Vercingetorix  was  reserved  to  grace  the 
conqueror's  triumph,  to  whom  a  supplication  of  twenty  days 
was  decreed  at  Rome. 

In  the  next  campaign  (701)  Caesar  and  his  legates  sub- 
dued such  states  as  still  maintained  their  independence.  As 
the  people  of  Uxellodunum  (in  duerci)  made  an  obstinate 
defence,  Caesar,  (his  lenity  being,  as  we  are  assured,  so 
well  known  that  none  could  charge  him  with  cruelty,)  in 
order  to  deter  the  rest  of  the  Gauls  from  insurrection  and 
resistance,  cut  off  the  hands  of  all  the  men,  and  then  let 
them  go,  that  all  might  see  them.  The  following  year, 
(702,)  as  all  Gaul  was  reduced  to  peace,*  he  regulated  its 
affairs,  imposing  an  annual  tribute  ;  and,  having  established 
his  dominion  over  it,  he  prepared  to  impose  his  yoke  on  his 
own  country. 

The  military  talent  displayed  by  Caesar  in  the  conquest  of 
Gaul  is  not  to  be  disputed,  and  it  alone  would  suffice  to  place 
him  in  the  first  rgnk  of  generals.  But  is  it  to  be  endured 
that  a  man  should  obtain  praise  and  renown  for  slaughtering 
innocent  nations  in  order  to  be  enabled  to  overthrow  the 
constitution  of  his  country  ?  We  are  told  that  he  took  or 
received  the  submission  of  800  towns,  subdued  300  nations; 
defeated  in  battle  3,000,000  of  men,  of  whom  1,000,000 
were  slain,  and  1,000,000  taken  and  sold  for  slafes;f  and 
all  this  misery  was  inflicted  that  Caesar  might  be  great ! 

*  ''  Ubi  solitudinem  faciunt,  pacem  adpellant,"  said  the  Caledonian 
warrior.    Tacit.  Agric.  30. 
t  Appian,  Celt.  2.    Pliny,  H.  N.  vu.  25. 


COMMENCEMENT    OF    THE    CIVIL   WAR.  41i 


CHAPTER  X.* 

commencement   of   the  civil   war. cesar   at   rome. 

—  Cesar's  war  in  spain.  —  surrender  of  massilia.  — 

CiE5AR's    civil    regulations. MILITARY  EVENTS  IN  EPI- 

RUS. 

There  were  now  in  the  Roman  world  two  men,  Ceesar 
and  Pompeius,  of  weight  and  influence  far  superior  to  all 
others ;  there  were  also  two  parties  in  the  state,  one  for 
maintaining  the  constitution  as  it  was,  the  other  for  revolu- 
tion ;  it  was  therefore  hardly  possible  that  each  party  should 
not  range  itself  under  its  appropriate  chief,  and  a  civil 
contest  ensue. 

At  the  elections  in  701t  the  consuls  chosen  for  the  fol- 
lowing year  were  L.  ^Emilius  Paulus  and  M.  Claudius  Mar- 
cellus ;  M.  Coelius  was  one  of  the  sediles,  and  C.  Scribonius 
Curio  one  of  the  tribunes,  —  all  hitherto  of  the  aristocratic 
party;  but  Caesar  had  secretly  purchased  Paulus  and  Curio, 
and  he  had  also  gained  over  Coelius.  On  the  first  of  March 
(702)  a  motion  which  had  long  been  meditated  was  made 
by  the  consul  Marcellus  for  regulating  the  consular  prov- 
inces, and  therefore  requiring  Caesar  to  resign  his  command  ; 
Curio,  who  was  now  openly  on  Caesar's  side,  declared  his 
approbation  of  it,  provided  Pompeius  did  the  same.  To  this 
the  senate  would  not  consent,  and  Curio  then  put  his  nega- 
tive on  every  other  resolution.  Pompeius  was  resolved  that 
Caesar  should  not  be  consul,  unless  he  resigned  his  army  and 
provinces,  and  Caesar  was  persuaded  that  there  was  no  safety 
for  him  if  he  left  his  army;  for  Cato  and  his  friends  had 
already  menaced  him  with  a  prosecution  for  his  illegal  acts 
in  his  consulate.  He  however  gave  up  two  legions,  to  be 
sent  to  Syria;  but  they  were  retained  by  Marcellus,  and 
kept  near  the  city. 

Pompeius  was  at  this  time  as  eager  for  war  as  Caesar  pos- 
sibly could  be.     The  zeal  and  anxiety  shown  by  the  people 

*  CsBsar,  Civil  Wars.  Dion,  xl.  58,  to  the  end  ;  xli.  1 — 52.  Ap- 
pian,  B.  C.  ii.  26 — 65.  Velleius,  ii.  48 — 51.  Suetonius,  Jul.  Csesar. 
Plutarch,  Lives  of  Csesar  and  Pompeius. 

t  At  the  elections  of  the  preceding  year  Cato  stood  for  the  consulate, 
but  as  he  virould  neither  bribe  nor  court  the  electors  he  was  of  course 
unsuccessful. 


416  HISTORY   OF   ROME. 

of  Italy,  on  occasion  of  an  illness  he  had  this  year  in  Caihr 
pania,  gave  him  the  most  exaggerated  ideas  of  his  influence 
over  them,  and  he  was  completely  misled  by  the  accounts 
he  received  of  the  ill-humor  of  Caesar's  legions  and  the  dis- 
affection of  his  provinces.  He  therefore  derided  those  who 
expressed  apprehension,  and  when  some  one  said  that  if 
Caesar  entered  Italy  there  were  no  troops  to  oppose  him,  he 
replied,  "  Wherever  I  but  stamp  with  my  foot  legions  will 
rise  up." 

On  the  first  of  January,  703,  Curio  came  with  a  letter 
from  Caesar,  saying  that  he  would  lay  down  his  command  if 
Pompeius  did  the  same;  otherwise  he  would  march  into 
Italy,  and  avenge  himself  and  the  republic.  The  consuls, 
C.  Marcellus  and  L.  Lentulus  Crus,  would  not  allow  the 
senate  to  take  the  letter  into  their  consideration ;  and  after 
some  debate  it  was  agreed  to  declare  Caesar  a  public  enemy 
if  he  did  not  disband  his  army  against  a  certain  day.  The 
tribunes  M.  Antonius  and  Q.  Cassius  Longinus,  sworn  allies 
of  Caesar,  put  their  negative  on  this  decree,  and  nothing  was 
then  decided  on.  Pompeius  expressed  his  approbation  of 
the  conduct  of  the  consuls  and  more  resolute  members  of  the 
senate,  and  his  veteran  officers  now  began  to  flock  from  all 
sides  to  Rome  in  hopes  of  a  war.  The  contest  meantime  in 
the  senate  was  continued  till  the  seventh  day,  when  the 
consuls  menaced  the  two  tribunes,  and  it  is  even  said  ordered 
them  to  leave  the  house ;  and  a  decree  was  made  that  the 
consuls  and  other  magistrates  should  take  care  that  the 
republic  sustained  no  injury.  That  very  night  Antonius  and 
Cassius,  disguised  as  slaves,  left  Rome  in  a  hired  carriage, 
and  hastened  to  join  Caesar,  and  they  were  followed  by  Curio 
and'Ccelius. 

The  senate  was  then,  on  account  of  Pompeius,  held  with- 
out the  city,  and  he  expressed  his  entire  approbation  of  what 
had  been  done,  and  said  that  he  had  ten  legions  in  arms, 
and  that  he  knew  Caesar's  troops  to  be  discontented.  It  was 
resolved  that  troops  should  be  raised  all  through  Italy,  Pom- 
peius be  supported  with  money  out  of  the  treasury,  and 
governors  be  sent  out  to  all  the  provinces.  War  in  effect 
was  declared  against  Caesar. 

'  Caesar  was  at  Ravenna  with  but  one  legion  when  he  heard 
of  the  proceedings  against  him.  He  forthwith  assembled  his 
soldiers  and  complained  to  them  of  the  treatment  he  had 
received  from  the  senate,  and  dwelt  particularly  on  the  indig' 
nities  offered  the  tribunes.     The  soldiers  having  declared 


COMMENCEMENT    OF    THE    CIVIL   WAR.  417 

their  resolution  to  stand  by  him,  he  sent  off  orders  to  his 
legates  in  Transalpine  Gaul  to  make  all  haste  to  join  him 
with  their  troops,  and  he  then  set  forward  for  Ariminum. 
It  is  said  that  he  sent  his  cohorts  on  secretly  before  him  with 
directions  to  occupy  that  town,  the  first  in  Italy,  and  that  he 
himself,  to  obviate  suspicion,  having  spent  the  day  in  view- 
ing the  exercises  of  gladiators,  sat  down  as  usual  to  supper 
in  the  evening.  When  it  grew  dark  he  rose  and  went  out, 
telling  the  company  he  would  return  presently.  But  he  had 
desired  some  of  his  friends  to  set  forth,  and  he  himself 
mounting  a  hired  horse  took  at  first  the  contrary  way,  then 
turned  and  directed  his  course  for  Ariminum.  When  he 
came  up  with  his  troops  at  the  Rubicon,  a  stream  which 
divided  Italy  from  Gaul,  he  halted  and  paused  for  some  time, 
reflecting  on  the  consequences  of  the  step  he  was  about  to 
take.  He  debated  the  question  with  C.  Asinius  Pollio  and 
his  other  friends  :  at  length,  bidding  adieu  to  reflection,  he 
cried  out,  *'  Let  the  die  be  cast ! "  he  passed  the  bridge, 
followed  by  his  troops,  and  at  dawn  entered  and  took  pos- 
session of  Ariminum,  where  he  found  Antonius  and  Cassius, 
whom  he  produced  in  their  servile  disguise  to  the  soldiers, 
and  expatiated  on  the  wrongs  they  had  sustained.  He  sent 
Antonius  with  five  cohorts  to  seize  Arretium  ;  others  to 
Pisaurum,  (Pesaro,)  Fanum  and  Ancona,  and  Curio  to 
Iguvium,  (Agubbio,)  while  he  himself  remained  to  levy  more 
troops.  His  principal  legate  T.  Atius  Labienus  left  him  at 
this  time,  and  went  to  join  Pompeius  and  the  senate,  who 
were  much  animated  by  his  arrival  and  the  report  he  made 
pf  Caesar's  forces. 

When  the  intelligence  of  Cassar's  advance  reached  Rome, 
Pompeius,  the  consuls,  and  the  senate  retired  with  the  utmost 
celerity  to  Capua,  not  even  taking  the  money  out  of  the 
treasury.  P.  Lentulus  Spinther  threw  himself  into  Asculum 
with  ten  cohorts  ;  L.  Domitius  repaired  to  Corfinium,  in 
order  to  impede  Caesar's  progress.  Pompeius  and  the  con- 
suls meantime  went  on  with  the  levies  in  the  colonies ;  but 
the  names  were  given  slowly  and  reluctantly,  and  Pompeius 
now  began  to  distrust  his  strength.  It  was  therefore  re- 
solved to  try  the  way  of  accommodation,  and  the  praetor  L. 
Roscius  and  the  young  L.  Caesar  were  sent  to  Caesar  to  learn 
his  demands.  These  were  that  Pompeius  should  retire  to 
his  province,  the  new  levies  be  disbanded,  and  the  garrisons 
withdrawn;  Caesar  would  then  disband  his  troops,  give .  up 
his  provinces,  and  come  to  Rome  to  stand  for  the  consulate 

AAA 


418  HISTORY   OF    ROME. 

in  the  usual  manner.  These  terms  were  accepted,  even 
Cato  consenting,  provided  Cgesar  withdrew  his  troops  from 
the  towns  he  had  seized.  With  this  last  condition  he  de- 
clined to  comply,  alleging  that  he  should  not  be  safe  if  he 
did  so.  Various  efforts  were  mad^e  to  no  purpose:  letters 
were  written  and  published  in  justification  of  either  sid^,  but 
war  now  seemed  inevitable.  Pompeius,  who  relied  on  his 
army  in  Spain,  and  on  the  troops  of  the  East,  sought  only  to 
gain  time  ;  Caesar,  who  had  but  one  army,  saw  that  his  only 
hopes  lay  in  despatch.  Leaving  Auximum,  therefore,  where 
he  now  was,  he  advanced  with  his  single  legion  through 
Picenum  to  the  town  of  Cingulum,  which  opened  its  gates 
when  he  appeared.  He  was  here  joined  by  his  twelfth 
legion,  and  he  went  on  to  Asculum,  which  Lentulus  quitted 
at  his  approach.  Lentulus  being  deserted  on  his  retreat  by 
most  of  his  men,  joined  L.  VibuUius  Rufus  with  the  re- 
mainder, and  their  united  force  amounting  to  thirteen  co- 
horts, they  led  it  by  forced  marches  to  Corfinium  and  joined 
Domitius.  While  Gaesar  was  advancing  toward  this  town, 
Pompeius,  who  had  reason  to  fear  that  he  could  not  fully 
rely  on  the  two  legions  he  had  with  him,  and  seeing  that  the 
consular  levies  were  not  ready,  wrote  pressing  Domitius  to 
evacuate  Corfinium,  and  to  join  him  with  the  troops  under 
him,  as  these  were  considered  well  affected  ;  but  Domitius 
chose  to  judge  for  himself,  and  when  Caesar  appeared  under 
the  walls  he  wrote  urging  Pompeius  to  advancis,  and  by 
getting  in  Cajsar's  rear  to  cut  off  his  supplies.  Pompeius 
replied,  declaring  it  to  be  out  of  his  power,  and  again  desir- 
ing him  to  try  and  join  him  if  possible.  Domitius  dissembled 
the  contents  of  this  letter,  and  assured  his  men  that  Pom- 
peius was  coming  to  their  aid.  But  they  observed  that  his 
looks -did  not  correspond  with  his  words,  and  they  found 
that  he  was  planning  to  make  his  escape.  They  mutinied, 
made  him  a  prisoner,  and  sent  deputies  to  surrender  them- 
selves and  the  town  to  Caesar.  Next  morning  Cses^ar  had 
Domitius,  Lentulus,  and  the  other  leading  Pompeians  brought 
before  him,  and  after  gently  reproaching  them  with  their 
oppo;sition  to  him  gave  them  their  liberty  and  their  property. 
He  made  the  soldiers  take  the  military  oath  to  him,  and, 
without  loss  of  time,  he  set  out  for  Apulia  in  pursuit  of  Pom- 
peius, who,  having  lost  the  better  part  of  his  army  through 
Domitius'  obstinacy,  retired  from  Nuceria,  where  he  then 
was,  to  Brundisium  :  for  he  had  all  along  intended  to  pass 
over  and  transfer  the  war  to  Greece.     Caesar  made  all  haste 


COMMENCEMENT    OF    THE    CIVIL    WAR.  419 

to  impede  him,  and  on  the  ninth  of  March  he  sat  down  be- 
fore Brundisium  with  six  legions.  Pompeius  had  but  twenty 
cohorts  in  the  town,  as  he  had  sent  thirty  with  the  consuls 
over  to  Dyrrhachium.  Caesar  attempted  to  shut  him  up  by 
running  moles  across  the  mouth  of  the  harbor  ;  but  the 
consuls  having  sent  back  the  shipping,  Pompeius,  on  the 
seventeenth  of  March,  embarked,  and  brought  off  his  troops 
in  a  very  masterly  manner  and  departed,  thus  abandoning 
Italy  to  his  rival. 

Cicero  greatly  blames  Pompeius  for  quitting  Italy  ;  yet 
what  could  he  have  done  ?  He  was  deceived  in  all  his  ex- 
pectations of  the  public  spirit  of  the  people,  his  troops  were 
all  deserting,  Caesar  had  eleven  veteran  legions  and  abun- 
dance of  cavalry,  the  lower  orders  were  in  his  favor  or  longed 
for  a  change,  and  the  higher  classes  are  thus  described  by 
Cicero  himself:  "I  do  not  understand,"  says  he  to  Atticus, 
**  what  you  mean  by  patriots,  {bonos ;)  I  know  of  none ;  ^I 
mean  I  know  of  no  order  of  men  deserving  that  appellation. 
Take  them  man  by  man  they  are  v.ery  worthy  gentlemen, 
but  in  civil  dissensions  we  are  to  look  for  patriotism  in  the 
constituent  members  of  the  body  politic.  Do  you  look  for 
it  in  the  senate  ?  Let  me  ask  you  by  whom  were  the  prov- 
inces left  without  governors  ?  Do  you  look  for  patriotism 
among  the  farmers  of  the  revenue  1  Alas  !  they  never  were 
steady,  and  now  they  are  entirely  devoted  to  Csesar.  Do 
you  look  for  it  in  our  trading  or  our  landed  interest?  They 
are  fondest  of  peace.  Can  you  imagine  that  they  have  any 
terrible  apprehension  of  living  under  a  monarchy,  they  to 
whom  all  forms  of  government  are  indifferent,  provided  they 
enjoy  their  ease  ? "  *  Italy  therefore  could  not  be  main- 
tained ;  but  Pompeius'  error  lay,  some  thought,  in  not  going 
to  Spain,  where  he  had  a  veteran  army  and  a  brave  popula- 
tion well  affected  to  him.  He  certainly  seems  to  have  relied 
too  much  on  the  ability  of  his  lieutenants  there,  and  it  may 
have  been  his  plan  (had  not  Caesar's  celerity  disconcerted  it) 
to  coop  him  up  in  Italy,  and  overwhelm  him  by  a  combined 
attack  from  the  east  and  the  west.  At  all  events  he  had  not 
shipping  to  convey  his  troops  to  Spain,  and  if  he  had  gone 
thither  Greece  and  the  East  would  probably  have  been'  lost. 
But  the  great  error  of  Pompeius  and  his  party  laf  in  ^tli'eir 

*  Cic.  to  Att.,  vii.  7.  He  says  elsewhere,  "I  have  had  a  great  deal 
of  talk  w^ith  our  townsmen,  and  a  great  deal  with  our  country  gentle- 
men in  these  quarters,  and  take  my  word  for  it  thev  have  no  concern 
,l>lit  about  their  lands,  their  farms,  and  their  money  .'^' 


420  HISTORY    OF    ROME. 

having  given  Caesar's  cause  the  semblunce  of  justice  and 
self-defence ;  the  term  of  his  command  was  not  expired  when 
they  required  him  to  resign  his  provinces,  and  they  refused 
to  let  him  stand  for  the  consulate  when  absent,  in  contraven- 
tion of  Pompeius'  own  law  to  that  effect.  Caesar  in  fact  had 
no  alternative  between  victory  and  ruin;  he  had  no  doubt 
voluntarily  placed  himself  in  that  situation,  but  he  was  in  it, 
and  could  not  now  recede.  When  we  see  such  men  as 
Asinius  Pollio  on  his  side,  we  may  be  sure  that  his  cause 
was  not  so  bad  in  the  eyes  of  his  contemporaries  as  it  may 
seem  in  ours.  In  fact  it  is  a  mockery  to  dignify  with  the 
name  of  constitution  the  anarchy  that  had  reigned  for  some 
years  at  Rome ;  people  plainly  saw  that  Csesar  or  Pompeius 
must  be  master  of  the  republic,  and  hence  the  indifference 
of  which  Cicero  complains,  and  in  which  he  partly  shared. 

As  the  want  of  shipping  prevented  Caesar  from  following 
Pompeius,  he  resolved  to  turn  his  strength  without  delay 
against  the  army  in  Spain.  Lest  in  his  absence  Pompeius 
should,  as  it  was  expected,  try  to  starve  Italy  by  stopping  the 
supplies  of  corn,  he  took  measures  for  securing  Sicily,  Sar- 
dinia, and  Africa.  Curio  was  sent  to  the  former  island,  with 
directions  when  he  had  gained  it  to  pass  over  to  Africa;  the 
legate  Valerius  to  the  latter,  the  people  of  which  declared  for 
him  as  soon  as  he  appeared.  Cato,  to  whom  the  senate  had 
given  charge  of  Sicily,  at  first  made  preparations  for  defence  ; 
but  finding  that  Pompeius  had  abandoned  Italy,  he  said  he 
would  not  engage  the  island  in  a  war,  and  retired  at  the 
approach  of  Curio.  Having  settled  Sicily,  Curio  passed  with 
two  legions  over  to  Africa,  where  he  had  some  success 
against  P.  Atius  Varus,  who  commanded  there  for  the  sen- 
ate ;  but  his  army  was  soon  after  cut  to  pieces  and  himself 
slain  by  the  troops  of  Juba  king  of  Numidia. 

Caesar  proceeded  from  Brundisium  to  Rome ;  the  people 
of  the  towns  on  the  way,  some  through  love,  some  through 
fear,  poured  forth  to  congratulate  him.  He  came  to  Rome, 
and,  having  assembled  such  of  the  senate  as  were  attached 
to  him,  or  who  had  not  courage  to  refuse,  he  detailed  his 
wrongs,  as  he  affected  to  consider  them  ;  dwelt  on  the  cruelty 
and  insolence,  as  he  termed  it,  of  those  who  had  circum- 
scribed the  tribunician  power  ;  and  begged  of  them  to  aid 
him  in  governing  the  republic,  adding,  that  if  they  would 
not  he  would  do  it  by  himself  He  proposed  that  some  one 
should  be  sent  to  treat  with  Pompeius  :  the  senate  approved, 
but  no  one  was  willing  to  go,  as  Pompeius  had  declared  that 


Cesar's  war  in  spain.  421 

he  should  regard  those  who  staid  at  Rome  as  much  his 
enemies  as  those  in  Caesar's  camp.  Caesar  theii,  having 
committed  the  charge  of  Rome  to  the  praetor  L.  iEmilius 
Lepidus,  and  the  command  of  the  troops  in  Italy  to  M. 
Antonius,  prepared  to  set  out  for  Spain.  He  would  not, 
however,  imitate  the  folly  or  good  faith  of  his  opponents  by 
leaving  the  treasury  untouched ;  and  when  the  tribune  L. 
Metellus,  relying  perhaps  on  the  horror-Csesar  had  expressed 
at  the  violation  of  the  sacred  authority  of  the  tribunes,  ven- 
tured to  oppose  him  and  referred  to  the  laws,  he  told  him 
that  this  was  no  time  to  talk  of  laws,  that  he  and  all  who 
had  opposed  must  now  obey  him.  When  he  came  to  the 
door  of  the  treasury  the  keys  were  not  to  be  found ;  he  then 
sent  for  smiths  to  break  open  the  doors  :  Metellus  again 
opposed ;  but  Caesar  threatened  to  slay  him,  and  "  Know, 
young  man,"  added  he,  "  that  this  is  easier  to  do  than  to 
say."  Metellus  then  withdrew,  and  the  assertor  of  the  laws 
took  out  all  the  money,  even  the  most  sacred  deposits.  This 
conduct  disgusted  the  people  so  much  that  Caesar  did  not 
venture  to  address  them  as  he  had  intended,  and  he  left 
Rome  after  a  stay  of  only  six  or  seven  days. 

When  he  came  into  Gaul  he  found  that  the  citizens  of 
Massilia  had  resolved  not  to  admit  him  into  their  town, 
wishing,  as  they  said,  to  remain  neuter ;  but  when  L.  Do- 
mitius,  to  whom  the  senate  had  given  the  province  of  Cisal- 
pine Gaul,  appeared  before  their  port  they  received  him. 
Caesar  then  laid  siege  to  the  town,  having  had  some  ships 
built  for  the  purpose  at  Aries  ;  and  leaving  the  conduct  of 
the  siege  to  C.  Trebonius,  and  the  command  of  the  fleet  to 
D.  Brutus,  he  hastened  on  to  Spain,  having  previously  sent 
C.  Fabius  with  three  legions  to  secure  the  passes  of  the 
Pyrenees.  On  his  way,  to  make  sure  of  the  fidelity  of  his 
troops,  he  borrowed  all  the  money  he  could  from  his  officers 
and  distributed  it  among  the  soldiers,  thus  binding  both  to 
him  by  the  ties  of  interest. 

Pompeius  had  three  legates  in  Spain,  L.  Afranius,  M.  Pe- 
treius,  and  M.  Terentius  Varro,  and  their  troops  amounted 
to  seven  legions.  When  they  heard  of  Caesar's  approach, 
they  agreed  that  Varro  should  remain  with  two  legions  in 
Ulterior  Spain,  while  Afranius  and  Petreius,  with  the  re- 
maining five,  should  oppose  the  invader.  They  therefore 
encamped  on  an  eminence  between  the  rivers  Cinga  (Cinca) 
and  Sicoris,  (Segre,)  near  the  town  of  Ilerda,  (Lerida,)  in 
which  they  had  placed  their  magazines;  and  a  bridge  over 
36 


422  HISTORY   OF   BOifB* 

the  Sicoris  kept  up  their  communication  with  the  country 
beyond  it,  whence  they  drew  their  supplies.  When  Fabius 
arrived,  some  skirmishing  took  place  between  him  and  the 
Pompeian  generals,  without  any  advantage  on  either  side. 
Caesar,  when  he  came,  encamped  at  the  foot  of  the  hill  on 
which  the  enemy  lay,  and  forthwith  made  a  bold  attempt  to 
seize  an  eminence  in  the  plain  between  it  and  the  town,  as 
the  possession  of  it  would  enable  him  to  cut  off  their  com- 
munication with  the  town  and  bridge.  Afranius,  aware  of 
his  design,  had  sent  some  troops  to  occupy  it;  the  Caesari- 
ans  were  driven  off;  they  were  reenforced,  and  chased  the 
Afranians  to  the  walls  of  Ilerda  :  the  engagement  lasted  five 
hours,  and  Afranius  finally  remained  in  possession  of  the 
eminence,  which  he  took  care  to  fortify.  Soon  after  a  flood 
in  the  Sicoris  carried  away  two  bridges  which  Csesar  had 
thrown  over  it;  his  communications  being  thus  cut  off, 
famine  began  to  prevail  in  his  camp,  while  the  enemy  had 
.abundance  of  every  thing.  Having  vainly  endeavored  to 
repair  the  bridges,  he  gave  orders  to  build  a  number  o^  cora- 
cles, or  boats  of  osier  covered  with  raw  hide,  such  as  he  had 
seen  in  Gaul,  which  he  conveyed  in  wagons  twenty-two 
miles  up  the  river,  and  passed  a  legion  over  in  them ;  and, 
having  secured  a  hill  on  the  other  side,  he  then  threw  a 
bridge  across.  As  he  was  greatly  superior  in  cavalry  the 
advantage  was  now  on  his  side,  and  several  of  the  native 
peoples  declared  for  him.  This  bridge  being  too  far  off,  he 
set  about  rendering  the  river  fordable  by  cutting  canals  from 
it;  and  he  had  nearly  completed  his  project,  when  Afranius 
and  Petreius,  having  resolved  to  transfer  the  war  to  Celtibe- 
ria,  set  out  for  the  Ebro,  where  they  had  a  camp  fortified 
and  a  bridge  of  boats  constructed.  As  the  Sicoris  was  still 
too  deep  for  his  infantry  to  pass  without  hazard,  Csesar  sent 
over  his  cavalry  to  pursue  and  harass  them  ;  but  his  infantry 
soon  growing  impatient,  he  was  obliged  to  let  them  attempt 
the  passage,  though  the  stream  Was  very  rapid  and  the  water 
above  their  shoulders.  He  placed  two  lines  of  cavalry  in 
the  stream^  one  above  to  break  the  force  of  the  current,  the 
other  below  to  stop  those  who  might  be  carried  away,  and 
they  thus  got  over  without  the  loss  of  a  single  man.  They 
came  up  with  the  enemy  about  three  in  the  afternoon,  and 
thus  obliged  them  to  encamp  earlier  than  they  intended. 
Next  day  both  parties  sent  out  to  examine  the  country,  and 
they  found  that  all  depended  on  which  should  first  secure 
the  passes  in  the  hills  between  them  and  the  Kbro.    Cssar's 


SURRENDER    OF    MASSILIA.  423 

superior  celerity  however  overcame  all  difficulties,  and  when* 
the  Afranians  came  in  view  of  the  passes  they  found  his 
legions  in  array  before  them.  They  halted  on  a  risiijg 
ground ;  Caesar's  officers  and  soldiers  were  urgent  with  him 
to  attack  them,  but  hoping  to  make  them  surrender  by  cut- 
ting off  their  provisions  he  allowed  them  to  regain  their 
camp.  He  then  encamped  close  by  them,  having  secured 
the  passes  to  the  Ebro. 

Conferences  now  took  place  between  the  soldiers  of  the 
two  armies ;  the  Afranians  proposed  to  join  Caesar  if  the 
lives  of  their  generals  were  spared,  and  some  of  their  princi- 
pal officers  went  to  treat  with  him.  The  men  of  both  armies 
visited  one  another  in  their  tents,  and  every  thing  seemed 
on  the  point  of  being  arranged,  when  Petreius,  arming  his 
slaves,  with  some  Spanish  cavalry,  forced  his  men  to  break 
off  all  conference,  and  put  to  the  sword  all  the  Caesarians 
whom  he  could  find.  He  then  went  through  the  camp  im- 
ploring the  soldiers  to  have  pity  on  him  and  Pompeius,  and 
not  thus  to  give  them  up  to  the  vengeance  of  their  enemy. 
He  made  the  whole  army  renew  their  military  oath,  and 
ordered  them  to  produce  all  the  Caesarians  in  their  tents  that 
they  might  be  put  to  death ;  some  obeyed,  but  the  greater 
part  concealed  their  friends  and  let  them  go  in  the  night. 
Caesar,  as  he  was  wont,  followed  a  different  and  a  nobler 
course ;  he  sought  out  the  Afranians  and  sent  them  back 
uninjured.  The  Porapeian  generals  now  endeavored  to  re- 
turn to  Ilerda,  but  they  were  so  closely  followed  and  harassed 
by  the  troops  of  Caesar,  that  they  were  obliged  to  halt  and 
encamp  on  a  hill,  round  which  Caesar  commenced  drawing 
lines ;  and  he  at  length  cut  them  off  so  completely  from 
water  and  forage  that  they  were  obliged  to  propose  a  surren- 
der. He  only  required  them  to  disband  their  forces  and  to 
quit  Spain ;  these  terms  were  joyfully  accepted  :  one  third 
of  the  army,  as  having  possessions  in  Spain,  was  discharged 
on  the  spot,  the  rest  on  the  banks  of  the  Var  in  Gaul.  In 
Southern  Spain  Varro,  finding  the  people  of  all  the  towns  in 
favor  of  Caesar,  resigned  his  command  and  left  the  province, 
the  whole  of  which  joyfully  submitted  to  Caesar. 

Meantime  Massilia  was  assailed  and  defended  with  equal 
energy  and  perseverance.  At  length  however  the  works 
raised  against  the  city  were  so  numerous  and  powerful,  that 
the  people  sent  deputies  offering  a  surrender,  but  requiring 
a  truce  till  the  arrival  of  Caesar.     The  truce  was  granted. 


424  HISTORY   OF    ROME. 

but  we  are  told  they  broke  it :  it  was  however  again  re- 
newed, and  when  Caesar  came  he  obliged  them  to  deliver  up 
all  their  arms,  ships  and  money,  and  receive  a  garrison  of 
two  legions  into  their  town.  He  spared  the  town,  he  said, 
out  of  regard  to  its  antiquity  and  renown,  not  for  any  merits 
its  people  had  toward  him. 

While  Caesar  was  at  Massilia  he  heard  that,  pursuant  to 
his  directions,  Lepidus  had  a  decree  passed  by  the  people  for 
nominating  him  dictator  to  hold  the  elections.  He  did  not 
however  set  out  yet  for  Rome,  but  remained  some  time  to 
regulate  Cisalpine  Gaul,  and  while  he  was  there  a  mutiny 
broke  out  in  the  ninth  legion  at  Placentia.  The  soldiers, 
probably  as  they  had  not  yet  gotten  the  plunder  promised 
them,  demanded  their  dismissal.  Caesar  coolly  addressed 
them,  reproaching  them  with  their  ingratitude  and  folly  ; 
and  telling  them  he  never  should  want  for  soldiers  to  share 
his  triumphs,  said  he  would  dismiss  them,  but  that  he  would 
first  punish  them  by  decimation.  They  threw  themselves  at 
his  feet  imploring  pardon  ;  their  officers  interceded  ;  Caesar 
was  for  some  time  inexorable  ;  at  length  he  agreed  to  pardon 
all  but  one  hundred  and  twenty  of  the  most  guilty,  and  these 
being  given  up  he  selected  thirty  of  the  most  turbulent  for 
execution.  He  then  went  to  Rome  to  hold  the  consular 
elections,  and  had  himself  and  P.  Servilius  Isauricus  chosen 
consuls  ;  Trebonius  and  Ccelius  were  two  of  the  new  praetors. 
Antonius  and  others  of  his  partisans,  who  were  overwhelmed 
with  debt,  urged  him  to  a  total  abolition  of  debts  ;  but  Caesar, 
who  wished  to  found  an  empire  for  himself,  would  establish 
no  such  precedent.  He  passed  a  law,  directing  that  the 
property  of  debtors  should  be  estimated  at  the  value  it  bore 
before  the  war,  and  transferred  to  their  creditors,  adding 
that  the  interest  which  had  been  paid  should  be  deducted 
from  the  principal ;  by  which  the  creditors  lost  about  a  fourth 
of  their  money.  Caesar  then  had  all  those  who  had  been 
condemned  for  bribery  under  Pompeius'  law,  and  who  had 
resorted  to  him,  restored  to  their  civic  rights,  —  Milo,  the 
slayer  of  his  friend  Clodius,  was  however  excepted;  he  also 
restored  the  sons  of  those  who  had  been  proscribed  by  Sulla. 
Having  then  held  the  Latin  Holydays  he  laid  down  his  dic- 
tatorship and  set  out  for  Brundisium,  where,  on  the  first  of 
January,  (704,)  he  entered  on  his  office  of  consul. 

Pompeius  meantime  had  been  making  every  effi3rt  to 
collect  a  large  fleet  and  army.     Ships  came  from  all  the 


MILITARY   EVENTS    IN    EPIRUS.  425 

ports  of  Greece  and  Asia,  and  a  numerous  navy  was  as- 
sembled, the  chief  command  of  which  Was  given  tO  Caesar's 
former  colleague  Bibulus.  His  army  consisted  of  nine  Ro- 
man legions,  besides  the  auxiliaries  of  Greece,  Macedonia, 
and  Asia.  He  had,  received  large  sums  of  money  from  the 
kings,  princes,  and  states  of  the  East ;  he  had  collected  great 
quantities  of  corn  for  the  support  of  his  army,  which  he 
intended  should  winter  in  the  towns  of  the  coast  of  Epirus, 
while  his  fleet  cruised  in  the  Adriatic  to  prevent  Caesar's 
passage.  Toward  the  end  of  the  year,  the  consuls  having 
assembled  the  senators,  two  hundred  in  number,  who  were 
with  them  at  Thessalonica,  and  declared  them  to  be  the  true 
senate,  Pompeius  was  made  commander  in  chief  of  the 
armies  of  the  republic,  and  the  consuls  and  other  magistrates 
were  directed  to  retain  their  offices  under  the  titles  of  pro- 
consuls, etc.  , 

Caesar  found  twelve  legions  and  all  his  cavalry  at  Brun- 
disium,  but  the  legions  had  been  so  reduced  by  fatigue  and 
sickness  that  they  were  very  incomplete.  The  ships  which 
had  been  collected  barely  sufficed  to  transport  seven  legions 
(only  20,000  men)  and  six  hundred  horse ;  but  with  these 
he  embarked,  and  eluding  Bibulus  landed  at  a  place  named 
Pharsalus,  in  Epirus ;  he  then  sent  back  the  ships  for  the 
rest  of  his  troops,  but  Bibulus  met  them  and  took  thirty,  and 
then  strictly  guarded  the  whole  coast.  Caesar  received  the 
submissions  of  the  towns  of  Oricum  and  Apollonia ;  and 
most  of  the  states  of  Epirus  declared  for  him.  He  was  ad- 
vancing against  Dyrrhachium,  when,  hearing  that  Pompeius 
was  rapidly  marching  to  its  defence,  he  halted  and  encamped 
on  the  banks  of  the  river  Apsus,  whither  Pompeius  came, 
and  encamped  also  on  the  other  side  of  that  river.  Accord- 
ing to  Caesar's  own  account  he  was  so  anxious  for  peace, 
that  immediately  on  landing  he  had  sent  off  L.  Vibuliius 
Rufus,  whom  he  had  twice  made  a  prisoner,  proposing  to 
Pompeius  that  they  should  both  disband  their  armies  and 
submit  to  the  decision  of  the  senate  and  people.  Vibuliius 
had  gone  off  with  all  speed,  more  with  the  intention  of  in- 
forming Pompeius  of  Caesar's  landing  than  of  promoting 
peace,  and  it  was  only  in  his  camp  on  the  Apsus  that  Pom- 
peius heard  of  these  proposals,  to  which  however  he  refused 
to  listen.  Caesar  also  tells  us  that  as  the  soldiers  of  the  two 
armies  used  to  converse  together  across  the  river,  he  directed 
his  legate  P.  Vatinius  to  go  and  call  out,  asking  if  citizens 

36*  BBB 


4^  .HIStORT   OF   ROME. 

might  not  send  to  citizens  to  treat  of  J)eace,  a  thing  Pom- 
peius  had  not  refused  to  robbers  and  pirates.  He  was  heard 
id  silence,  and  told  that  A.  Varro  would  borne  the  following 
day  to  treat.  Next  day  a  great  number  appeared  on  both 
•sides,  and  Labienus  advanced  and  began  in  a  low  voice  to 
'confer  with  Vatinius  ;  a  shower  of  missiles,  which  wounded 
several  of  the  Caesarians,  broke  off  the  conference,  and 
Labienus  then  cried,  "  Give  over  talking  of  accommodation ; 
there  can  be  no  peace  unless  you  bring  us  Caesar's  head." 

While  Caesar  was  lying  on  the  Apsus,  his  friend  Ccelius, 
whom  he  ha<i  left  one  of  the  praetors  at  Rome,  displeased 
"that  he  had  not  been  able  to  get  rid  of  all  his  debts,  began  to 
taise  disturbances.  He  commenced  by  opposing  Trebonius 
in  every  way  he  could  ;  and  this  not  succeeding,  he  proposed 
two  laws,  the  one'for  exempting  from  rent  all  the  tenants  of 
the  state,  the  other  for  a  general  abolition  of  debt.  At  the 
head  of  the  multitude  he  then  attacked  Trebonius,  and 
Wounded  some  of  those  about  him:  the  senate  in  return 
forbade  him  to  execute  the  functions  of  his  office.  He  then 
left  Rome  under  the  pretence  of  going  to  Caesar,  but  he  had 
secretly  written  to  his  old  friend  Milo  urging  him  tp  come 
and.  raise  some  disturbance  in  Italy;  and  Milo,  having  col- 
elected  his  gladiators  and  what  other  forces  he  cotjld,  had  laid 
siege  to  the  town  of  Cosa,  near  Thurii.  CcElius  proceeded 
'tp  join  him,  but  Milo  had  been  killed  by  a  stone  flung  from  , 
the  walls ;  and  Coelius,  attempting  to  seduce  some  Gallic 
and  Spanish  horse  that  were  in  Cosa,  was  slain  by  them. 

Caesar's  great  object  now  was  to  get  over  the  rest  of  his 
troops,' and  Pompeius  was  equally  anxious  to  prevent  their 
passage.  Bibulus  had  lately  died  of  an  illness  caused  by 
cold  and  fatigue  ;  but  Libo  and  others  kept  the  sea,  and 
impeded  the  transport.  Some  months  had  now  passed,  and 
as  the  wind  had  frequently  been  favorable  for  them,  Caesar 
thought  there  must  be  some  fault  on  the  part  of  M.  Antonius 
an4  Q.  Fufius  Calenus,  who  commanded  at  Brundisium,  and 
he  wrote  to  them  in  the  most  peremptory  terms.  He  even, 
it  is  said,  resolved  to  pass  over  in  person,  and  disguising 
l^imself  as  a  slave  he  embarked  in  a  fishing-boat  at  the  mouth 
of  the  Apsus ;  but  the  sea  proved  so  rough  that  the  fishermen 
feared  to  go  on;  Caesar  then  discovered  himself,  saying  to 
the  master,  "Why  dost  thou  fear?  thou  carriest  Caesar!" 
and  they  made  another  attempt;  but  the  sea  was  so  furious 
that  he  was  obliged  to  let  them  put  back  again. 


MILITARY   EVENTS    IN   EPIRUS. 


421^' 


At  length  Antonius  put  to  sea,  and  succeeded  in  landing 
near  Lissus.  Caesar  and  Polnpeius,  when  they  heard  of  his 
arrival,  both  put  their  troops  in  motion,  the  one  to  join,  the 
other  to  attack  him.  Antonius  kept  within  his  entrench- 
ments till  Caesar  came  up.  Pompeius  then  retired  ;  Caesar 
followed  him  ;  and  having  offered  him  battle  in  vain,  set  out 
for  Dyrrhachium.  Pompeius  delayed  for  one  day,  and  then 
took  a  shorter  route  for  the  same  place,  and  encamped  on  a 
hill  named  Petra  near  it,  close  to  the  sea.  As  there  were 
hills  at  a  little  distance  near  Petra,  Caesar  raised  forts  on 
them,  proposing  to  circumvallate  Pompeius'  camp.  Pom- 
peius, to  oblige  him  to  take  in  a  greater  space,  also  formed 
a  line  of  forts,  inclosing  an  extent  of  fifteen  miles,  so  astp 
yield  him  forage  for  his  cavalry ;  and  he  received  abundant . 
supplies  by  sea,  while  Caesar's  men  were  obfiged  to  livp 
chiefly  on  a  root,  named  chara,  for  want  of  bread.  But  the' 
forage  soon  began  to  run  short  with  Pompeius'  army ;  and  as 
Caesar  had  turned  the  streams,  the  want  of  water  also  was 
severely  felt.  At  length  Pompeius  made  a  bold  and  judicious 
attack  on  the  enemy's  lines,  and  forced  them;  and  in  the 
action  which  ensued  he  gained  the  victory.  Caesar  then 
resolved  to  transfer  the  war  to  Macedonia,  and  he  set  out  for 
that  country,  closely  followed  by  Pompeius.  After  a  pursuit 
of  three  days  Pompeius  changed  his  course,  and  taking  a 
nearer  route  arrived  the  first  in  Macedonia,  where  he  was 
near  surprising  Caesar's  general  Cn.  Domitius  Calvinus. 
Caesar  entered  Thessaly  and  took  the  town  of  Gomphi  by 
assault,  and  then  advanced  and  encamped  near  the  town  of 
Metropolis.  Pompeius  entered  Thessaly  a  few  days  after, 
and  joined  his  father-in-law  Scipio,  who  lay  at  Larissa;  andj 
the  two  armies  finally  encamped  opposite  each  other  on  the 
ever-memorable  plain  of  Pharsalus. 


42d  BISTORT  OF   ROMK 


CHAPTER  XL* 

BATTLE    OF    PHARSALIA. FLIGHT  AND  DEATH    OF   POMPEIUS. 

HIS  CHARACTER. CuESAR's  ALEXANDRIAN  WAR. THE 

PONTIC  WAR.  AFFAIRS    6f    ROME. MUTINY  OF  C^SAR's 

LEGIONS. AFRICAN  WAR. DEATH  OF  CATO. HIS  CHAR- 
ACTER.  CJSSAR's     TRIUMPHS. REFORMATION     OF     THE 

CALENDAR.  —  SECOND  SPANISH  WAR. BATTLE  OF  MUNDA. 

HONORS    BESTOWED  ON  CjESAR. CONSPIRACY  AGAINST 

HIM.  -^  HIS    DEATH.  —  HIS    CHARACTER. 

The  two  armies  now  lay  in  sight  of  each  other ;  that  of 
Pcrmpeius,  which  consisted  of  forty-five  thousand  men,  of 
which  more  than  a  sixth  was  cavalry,  was  superior  in  number 
but  inferior  in  quality.  Caesar's  army,  of  twenty-two  thou- 
sand men,  only  one  thousand  of  whom  were  cavalry,  were 
all  hardy  veterans,  used  to  victory  and  confident  in  them- 
selves and  their  leader. 

The  superior  number  of  their  troops  and  their  late  suc- 
cesses had  raised  the  confidence  of  the  Pompeian  leaders, 
and  nothing,  we  are  told,  could  exceed  their  insolence ;  they 
contended  with  one  another,  for  the  dignities  and  priesthoods 
in  the  state,  and  disposed  of  the  consulate  for  several  years 
to  come.  Scipio,  Lentulus  Spinther,  and  L.  Domitius  had 
ah  angry  contest  for  the  chief-priesthood  with  which  Caesar 
was  invested,  for  of  his  defeat  not, a  doubt  was  entertained  ; 
and  when  Pompeius  acted  with  caution,  he  was  accused  of 
protracting  the  war  out  of  the  vanity  of  seeing  such  a  num- 
ber of  consulars  and  praetorians  under  his  command.  Pro-^ 
scriptions  and  confiscations  were  resolved  on;  in  short,  says 
Cicero,  **  excepting  Pompeius  himself  and  a  few  others, 
(I  speak  of  the  principal  leaders,)  they  carried  on  the  war 
with  such  a  spirit  of  rapaciousness,  and  breathed  such  prin- 
ciples of  cruelty  in  their  conversation,  that  I  could  not  think 
even  of  our  success  without  horror.  To  this  I  must  add, 
that  some  of  our  most  dignified  men,  were  deeply  involved  in 

•  Caesar,  Civil  Wars.     Hiftius'  and  others'  Books  of  the  Alexan- 
'  drian,  African,  and  Spanish  Wars.     Dion,  xli,  53,  to  the  end ;  xJii., 
xliii.,  and  xliv.    Appian,  ii.  56,  to  the  end.    Suetonius,  Jul.  Caesar. 
Plutarch,  Lives  of  Fumpeius,  Gsisar,  Cato,  and  Brutus. 


BATTLE    OF    PHARSALIA.  429 

debt ;  and,-  in  short,  there  was  nothing  good  among  them 
but  their  cause."  * 

Pompeius,  who  was  superstitious  by  nature,  had  been 
greatly  encouraged  by  accounts  of  favorable  signs  in  the  en- 
trails of  the  victims  and  such  like  sent  him  by  the  haruspices 
from  Rome,  and  he  resolved  to  risk  a  general  engagement. 
He  drew  up  his  army  at  the  foot  of  the  hill  on  which  he  was 
encamped  ;  but  Caesar,  unwilling  to  engage  him  to  a  disad- 
vantage, prepared  to  decamp.  Just,  however,  as  the  order 
was  given, seeing  that  Pompeius  had  advanced  into  the  plain, 
he  changed  his  mind,  and  made  ready  to  engage.  The  right 
wing  of  the  Pompeians,  commanded  by  Lentulus,  rested  on 
the  river  Enipeus.  Pompeius  himself,  with  Domitius,  com- 
manded the  left;  his  father-in-law,  Scipio,  the  centre;  the 
horse  and  light  troops  Were  all  on  the  left.^  Caesar's  right 
was  commanded  by  himself  and  P.  Sulla;  his  left  by  M. 
Antonius ;  the  centre  by  Domitius  Calvinus :  to  strengthen 
his  cavalry,  he  had  mingled  through  it  some  of  his  most 
active  foot-soldiers;  and  he  placed  six  cohorts  separate  from 
his  line,  to  act  on  occasion  against  the  enemy's  horse. 
Pompeius  had  directed  his  men  to  stand  and  receive  the 
enemy's  charge,  hoping  thus  to  engage  them  when  out  of 
breath  with  running ;  but  the  Caesarians,  when  they  found 
that  the  enemy  did  not  advance,  halted  of  themselves,  and, 
having  recovered  their  breath,  advanced  in  order  and  hurled 
ihe'ir  pila.  They  then  fell  on  sword  in  hand  ;  the  Pompeians 
did  the  same  ;  and  while  they  were  engaged,  their  horse  and 
light  troops  having  attacked  and  defeated  Caesar's  cayalry 
were  preparing  to  take  his  infantry  in  flank,  when  he  made 
the  signal  to  the  six  cohorts,  who  fell  on  and  drove  them  off 
the  field.  It  is  said  that  Caesar  had  directed  his  men  to  aim 
their  blows  at  the  faces  of  the  horsemen,  and  that  the  young 
Roman  knights  fled  sooner  than  run  the  risk  of  having  their 
beauty  spoiled.t  The  six  cohorts  then  took  the  Porapeian 
left  wing  in  the  rear,  while  Caesar  brought  his  third  line, 
which  had  not  been  yet  engaged,  against  it  in  front.  It 
broke,  and  fled  to  the  camp.  Pompeius,  whose  whole  reli- 
ance was  on  his  left  wing,  now  despairing  of  victory,  retired 
to  his  tent  to  await  the  event  of  the  battle.  But  Caesar  soon 
led  his  men  to  the  attack  of  the  camp,  which  was  catried 

*  Cic.  ad  Divers,  vii,  3.  Cicero  always  speaks  with  horror  and 
apprehension  of  the  success  of  the  Pompeians. 

t  This  is  not  very  likely;  the  young  Roman  knights  could  have 
ibrmed  but  a  small  part  of  a  body  of  7000  horse. 


4^0'  HISTORY   OP    ROME. 

after'  art^o^stinaie  resistance  from  the  cohorts  which  had 
been  left  to  guard  it.  Pompeius,  laying  aside  his  general's 
habit,  mounted  a  horse,  and  left  it  by  the  Decuman  gate. 
CaBsar  found  the  tents  of  Lentulus  and  others  hung  with  ivy, 
fresh  turves  cut  for  seats,  tables  covered  with  plate,  and  all 
the  preparations  for  celebrating  a  victory.  Leaving  some 
troops  to  guard  the  two  camps,  he  followed  a  body  of  the* 
Pompeians  who  had  fled  to  a  hill,  but  they  abandoned  it  and 
made  for  Larissa;  he  however  got  between  them  and  that 
town,  and  finally  forced  them  to  surrender.  His  own  loss 
in  this  battle,  he  tells  us,  was  only  200  men  and  30  centuri- 
ons ;  that  of  the  Pompeians  was  15,000,  of  whom  but  6000 
were  soldiers,  the  rest  being  servants  and  the  like  :  upwards 
of  24,000  were  made  prisoners.  He  granted  life  and  liberty 
to  all;  and  finding,  it  is  said,  in  Pompeius'  tent  the  letters 
of  several  men  of  rank,  he  imitated  the  conduct  of  Pompeius 
in  Spain,  and  burned  without  reading  them.  L.  Domitius 
had  been  ^lain  in  the  pursuit ;  Labienus  fled  with  the  Gallic 
horse  to  Dyrrhachium,  where  he  found  Cicero  and  Varro 
wjth  Cato,  who  commanded  there;  they  passed  over  to  Cor- 
cyra,  and  being  joined  by  the  young  Cn.  Pompeius  and  other 
commanders  of  the  fleet,  held,  a  council ;  but  as  they  could 
decide  on  nothing,  they  separated,  and  werit  different  ways. 
Labienus,  Scipio  arid  sortie  others  Sailed  to  Africa  to  join 
Varus  and  king  Juba ;  Cato  and  young  Pompeius  went  in 
quest  of  Pompeius;  Cicero  returned  to  Italy,  intending  to 
seek  the  victor's  clemency.  ^ 

We  myst  now  follow  the  unhappy  Pompeius  Magnus.' 
He  rode  with  about  thirty  followers  to  the  gates  of  Larissa, 
but  would  not  enter  the  town  lest  the,  people  should  incur 
the  anger  of  Ca?sar.  He  then  went  on  to  the  Vale  of 
Tempe,  and  at  the  mouth  of  the  Peneus  got  on  board  a 
merchantman  which  he  found  lying  there ;  thence  he  sailed 
to  the  mouth  of  the  Strymon,  and,  having  gotten  some  money 
from  his  friends  at  Amphipolis,  proceeded  to  Mytilene  in 
Lesbos,  where  he  had  left  his  wife  Cornelia.  Having  taken 
her  and  his  son  Sextus  on  board,  and  collected  a  few  vessels, 
he  proceeded  to  Cilicia,  and  thence  to  Cyprus.  He  had 
intended  going  to  Syria,  but  finding  that  the  people  of  An- 
tioch  had  declared  for  CsBsar,  as  also  had  the  Rhodians,  he 
gave  up  that  design;  and  having  gotten  money  from  the 
publicans  and  some  private  persons,  and  collected  about  two 
thousand  men,  he  made  sail  for  Egypt. 

It  is  said  that  he  had  consulted  with  his  friends  whether 


FLIGHT    OF    POMPEIUS.  431 

he  should  seek  a  refuge  with  the  king  of  the  Parthians,  or 
retire  to  king  Juba  in  Africa,  or  repair  to  the  young  king  of 
Egypt,  whose  father  had  been  restored  to  his  thr6ne  through 
his  influence  some  years  before.*  The  latter  course  was 
decided  on,  and  he  sailed  for  Pelusium,  where  the  young 
king  (who  was  at  war  with  his  sister  Cleopatra,  whom  their 
father  had  made  joint  heir  of  the  throne)  was  lying  with  his 
army.  Pompeius  sent  to  request  his  protection,  on  account 
of  his  friendship  for  his  father.  The  king's  ministers,  either 
fearing  that  Pompeius,  by  means  of  the  troops  which  had 
been  left  there  by  Gabinius,  might  attempt  to  make  himself 
master  of  the  kingdom,  or  despising  his  fallen  fortunes, 
resolved  on  his  death.  They  sent  Achillas,  a  captain  of  the 
guard,  with  Septimius,  a  former  Roman  centurion,  and  some 
others,  in  a  small  boat  to  invite  him  to  land.  He  was  re- 
quested to  come  into  the  boat,  as  the  shore  was  too  oozy 
and  shallow  for  a  ship  to  approach  it.  He  consented,  and 
directing  two  centurions  and  his  freedmaii  Philip  and  a  slave 
to  follow  him,  and  having  embraced  Cornelia,  he  entered 
the  boat,  and  then  turning  round  repeated  the  following 
lines  of  Sophocles : 

^He  who  unto  a  prince's  house  repairs 
Becomes  his  slave,  though  he  go  thither  free.t 

They  went  on  some  time  in  silence;  at  length  Pompeius, 
turning  to  Septimius,  said,  "  If  I  mistake  not,  you  and  I 
have  been  fellow-soldiers."  Septimius  merely  nodded  as- 
sent ;  the  silence  was  resumed ;  Pompeius  began  to  read 
over  what  he  had  prepared  to  say  to  the  king  in  Greek. 
Meantime  the  boat  approached  the  shore  ;  Cornelia  and  his 
friends  saw  several  of  the  royal  officers  coming  down  to 
receive  Pompeius,  who,  taking  hold  of  Philip's  arm,  rose 
from  his  seat.     As  he  rose,  Septimius  stabbed  him  in  the 

^  PtolemGeus  Auletes  promised  Caesar  6000  talents  for  himself  and 
Pompeius,  for  having  him  acknowledged  as  king  of  Egypt  by  the 
senate.  He  was  forced  by  his  subjects  to  fly  when  he  oppressed  them 
by  raising  that  sum.  He  came  to  Rome  ;  Pompeius  wished  to  have 
the  profitable  task  of  restoring  him  ;  but  the  laws  and  Sibylline  oracles 
were  alleged  by  his  opponents,  and  Ptolemseus  being  obliged  to  leave 
Rome  for  having  poisoned  the  ambassadors  sent  thither  by  his  subjects, 
Pompeius  gave  him  letters  to  Gabinius,  the  governor  of  Syria,  who, 
on  being  promised  by  him  10,000  talents,  set  the  laws  and  oracles  at 
nought,  marched  his  troops  out  of  his  province,  and  replaced  him  on 
the  throne  of  Egypt. 

t"0ffTJ5  3s  TTQog  rr'-Qavvov  hiTvoQevtrat 
Ksivov  'afi  Sov2.og,  x^'v  iXtV'&tqog  fi6Xij. 


432  HISTORY    OF    ROME. 

back;  Achillas  and  a  Roman  named  Salvius  then  struck 
him  :  Pompeius  drew  his  gown  before  his  face,  groaned,  and 
died  in  silence.  Those  on  ship-board  gave  a  loud,  piercing 
cry  of  grief,  and  set  sail  without  delay,  pursued  .by  some 
Egyptian  vessels.  The  head  of  Pompeius  was  cut  off;  his 
trunk  was  thrown  on  the  beach,  where  his  faithful  freedman 
staid  by  it,  and,  having  washed  it  in  the  sea,  collected  the 
wreck  of  a  fishing-boat  and  prepared  a  pyre  to  burn  it. 
While  he  was  thus  engaged,  an  old  Roman  who  had  served 
urider  Pompeius  came  up,  and  saying  that  the  honor  of 
aiding  at  the  obsequies  of  the  greatest  of  Roman  generals 
compensated  him  in  some  sort  for  the  evils  of  an  abode  in  a 
foreign  land,  assisted  him  in  his  pious  office. 

Such  was  the  end  of  Cn.  Pompeius  Magnus,  in  the  fifty- 
eighth  year  of  his  age.  In-  his  person  he  was  graceful  and 
dignified  ;  he  spoke  and  wrote  with  ease  and  perspicuity, 
and  was  always  heard  with  attention  and  respect.  In  pri- 
vate life  his  morals  Were  remarkably  pure,  unstained  by  the 
excesses  which  disgraced  Caesar  and  so  many  others  at  that 
time ;  of  the  amiability  of  his  character  there  can  be  no 
stronger  proof  than  the  fact  of  his  having  gained  the  entire 
and  devoted  affection  of  two  such  women  as  Julia  and  Cor- 
nelia, both  so  many  years  younger  than  himself  The  public 
character  of  Pompeius  is  far  less  laudable;  his  love  of  sway 
was  inordinate  ;  he  could  not  brook  a  rival ;  he  would,  how- 
ever, be  the  freely  chosen  head  of  the  republic,  and  in  such 
case  would  have  respected  and  maintained  the  laws.  Not 
succeeding  in  this  course  he  was  led  to  the  commission  of 
several  illegal  acts,  and  he  formed  that  fatal  coalition  with 
CsBsar,  for  whom  neither  as  a  statesman  nor  as  a  general 
was  he  a  match,  and  who,  during  their  union,  always  exerted 
over  him  the  power  of  a  superior  mind,  and  that  mostly  for 
evil.  Pompeius  was  by  no  means  inclined  to  cruelty;  yet 
Cicero  feared,  and  with  reason,  that  his  victory  would  have 
been  more  sanguinary  than  that  of  Caesar  ;  for  though  his 
natural  humanity  might  have  kept  him  from  imitating  Sulla 
as  he  threatened,  he  had  not  Caesar's  energy  to  restrain  the 
violence  of  his  followers.  Caesar,  we  must  allow,  was  better 
fitted  for  empire ;  Pompeius  was  by  far  the  better  man. 

Caesar,  on  learning  that  Pompeius  was  gone  to  Egypt, 
made  all  the  speed  he  could  to  overtake  him,  and  thus  end 
the  war.  He  arrived  at  Alexandria  with  two  legions,  (3200 
foot  and  800  horse  :)  the  head  and  ring  of  Pompeius  were 
presented  to  him  ;  he  shed  some  tears  (counterfeit,  we  may 


433 

well  suspect)  over  them,  and  caused  the  head  to  be  burnt 
with  costly  spices.  He  then  set  about  regulating  the  affairs 
of  Egypt,  and  he  summoned  Ptolemseus  and  his  sister  before 
him.*  The  superior  influence  of  Cleopatra  was  soon  ap- 
parent, and  Pothinus,  the  young  king's  minister,  seeing  the 
small  number  of  the  Roman  troops,  sent  to  desire  Achillas 
to  advance  with  the  army  from  Pelusium.  This  army  con- 
sisted of  eighteen  thousand  foot  and  two  thousand  horse,  all 
good  troops,  several  of  them  being  Romans  left  by  Gabinius, 
and  Caesar  found  it  necessary  to  act  on  the  defensive. 
Achillas  made  himself  master  of  all  the  town  except  the 
palace  which  Csesar  had  fortified.  A  great  struggle  was 
made  for  the  port,  as  with  the  shipping  there  the  blockade 
of  the  palace  might  be  made  complete.  Caesar  however 
succeeded  in  burning  all  the  ships  in  it ;  unfortunately  the 
flames  extended,  and  the  magnificent  library  of  the  kings 
was  nearly  all  consumed.  He  then  secured  the  island  of 
Pharos,  at  the  mouth  of  the  port,  and  the  mole  leading  to  it. 
Ganymedes,  the  successor  of  Achillas  who  had  been  slain, 
then  mixed  sea-water  with  that  of  the  Nile  in  the  aqueducts 
which  supplied  Caesar's  quarters  ;  but  this  evil  he  obviated 
by  sinking  wells.  In  a  naval  action  in  the  port,  Caesar,  with 
only  a  few  ships,  gained  the  advantage ;  but,  in  an  attempt 
to  retake  the  mole  and  island,  which  the  Alexandrians  had 
recovered,  he  lost  about  eight  hundred  men  and  some  ships, 
and  he  had  to  throw  himself  into  the  water  and  swim  to  a 
merchantman  for  safety. t 

The  Alexandrians  now  sent  to  demand  their  king  who  was 
in  his  hands,  and  Caesar,  seeing  no  use  in  detaining  him,  let 
him  go,  and  the  war  was  then  renewed  more  fiercely  than 
ever.  Meantime  Mithridates,  an  officer  whom  Caesar  had 
sent  to  levy  troops  in  Syria,  was  advancing  with  a  large  army 
to  relieve  him,  but  as  he  had  to  go  round  the  Delta,  the 
young  king  despatched  a  part  of  his  army  to  oppose  him. 
These  troops,  however,  were  defeated  ;  the  king  hasterfed 
with  the  rest  of  his  army  to  their  aid,  and  Caesar  at  the  same 
time  joined  Mithridates.     He  now  resolved  to  try  and  ter- 

*  It  is  said  that,  to  escape  her  brother's  troops,  Cleopatra  had  her- 
self wrapped  up  in  a  bale  of  bedclothes,  and  thus  conveyed  into  Alex- 
andria. 

t  He  held,  it  is  said,  on  this  occasion,  his  papers  with  one  hand  over 
the  water  to  save  them  from  being  wetted.  It  is  rather  strange  that 
he  should  have  had  papers  in  his  hand,  or  even  about  him,  in  such  a 
hot  engagement. 

37  ccc 


434  HISTORY    OF    ROME. 

minate  the  war  by  an  attack  on  the  Egyptian  camp,  which 
was  on  an  eminence  over  the  Nile,  one  of  its  sides  being 
defended  by  the  steepness  of  the  ground,  the  other  by  a 
morass.  While  the  attack  was  carried  on  in  the  front  of  the 
camp,  some  cohorts  climbed  up  the  steep  of  the  hill,  and  fell 
on  the  enemy's  rear.  The  Egyptians  fled  on  all  sides, 
mostly  to  the  Nile,  and  the  king  trying  to  escape  was  drowned 
in  the  river.  Caesar  returned  to  Alexandria,  whose  inhabi- 
tants came  forth,  preceded  by  their  priests,  to  implore  his 
mercy.  He  gave  the  crown  to  Cleopatra  and  her  younger 
brother,  leaving  them  the  greater  part  of  his  troops  to  pro- 
tect them,  and  then  set  out  for  Syria.  After  his  departure 
Cleopatra  was  delivered  of  a  son,  who  was  said  to  be  his, 
and  was  named  CaBsarion. 

When  the  civil  war  broke  out,  Pharnaces,  the  son  of 
Mithridates  the  Great,  resolved  to  seize  the  occasion  of  re- 
covering his  paternal  dominions.  He  speedily  regained 
Pontus,  and  then  overran  Lesser  Armenia  and  Cappadocia. 
Deiotarus,  the  king  of  the  former,  applied  for  aid  to  Cn. 
Domitius,  who  commanded  for  Caesar  in  Asia ;  and  after 
some  fruitless  attempts  at  negotiation,  Domitius  collected 
what  troops  he  could,  and  advancing  to  Nicopolis  gave 
Pharnaces  battle ,  but  he  was  defeated  and  forced  to  retire. 
Caesar  was  meantime  hastening  from  Egypt ;  for  though  he 
had  learned  that  things  were  in  the  utmost  confusion  at 
Rome,  he  resolved  not  to  quit  Asia  till  he  had  reduced  it  to 
peace.  Though  his  force  was  small,  he  decided  on  giving 
battle  without  delay,  and  he  advanced  to  within  five  miles 
of  Pharnaces'  camp,  which  was  on  a  hill,  and  commenced 
fortifying  another  hill  in  its  vicinity.  Pharnaces,  relying  on 
the  number  of  his  troops,  and  recollecting  that  it  was  in  this 
very  place  his  father  had  defeated  Triarius,  crossed  the 
valley,  and,  leading  his  army  up  the  hill,  attacked  the  Roman 
troops.  The  battle  was  long  and  dubious;  at  length  the 
right  wing  of  the  Romans  was  victorious,  the  centre  and  left 
were  soon  equally  successful ;  the  enemy  was  driven  down 
the  hill  and  pursued  to  his  camp,  which  was  speedily  taken  : 
Pharnaces  himself  escaped,  but  nearly  his  whole  army  was 
slain  or  taken.  "I  came,  I  saw,  I  conquered,"  {Venij  vidi, 
vici,)  were  the  terms  in  which  Cresar  wrote  to  announce 
this  victory,  which  ended  the  Pontic  war. 

Having  regulated  the  affairs  of  Asia,  Caesar  set  out  for 
Italy  :  at  Brundisium  he  was  met  by  Cicero,  whom  he  re- 
ceived very  kindly ;  he  then  went  on  to  Rome,  which  he 


AFFAIRS    OF   ROME.  435 

!  found  in  a  state  of  distraction.  For  CsBsar,  having  been 
>    created  dictator  after  the  battle  of  Pharsalia,  had  sent  M. 

I  Antonius,  his  master  of  the  horse,  to  govern  Italy  in  his 
absence ;  and  P.  Cornelius  Dolabella,  another  of  his  friends, 
being  made  one  of  the  tribunes,  had  revived  the  laws  of 
CcbUus  for  the  abolition  of  debts  and  rents.  Antonius,  who 
like  Dolabella  was  immersed  in  debt,  was  at  first  willing  to 
support  him,  but  he  finally  sided  with  the  senate  and  two  of 
the  other  tribunes  in  opposing  him.  The  people  were  of 
course  for  Dolabella,  and  such  conflicts  took  place,  during 
an  absence  of  Antonius,  between  debtors  and  creditors,  that 
the  Vestals  found  it  necessary  to  remove  the  sacred  things 
to  a  place  of  safety.  When  Antonius  returned  the  senate 
gave  him  the  usual  charge  to  see  that  the  state  suffered  no 
injury.  Dolabella,  on  the  day  of  proposing  his  laws,  had  the 
Forum  barricadoed,  and  even  wooden  towers  erected  to  keep 
off  all  opponents;  but  Antonius  came  down  with  soldiers 
from  the  Capitol,  broke  the  tables  of  the  laws,  and  seizing 

'  some  of  the  more  turbulent  flung  them  down  from  the  Tar- 
peian  rock.  When  Cajsar  arrived  he  took  no  notice  of  what 
had  occurred ;  he  however  steadily  refused  the  abolition  of 
debts,  but  remitted  the  interest  that  had  accrued  since  the 
war  began,  and  he  also  remitted  to  those  who  paid  under 
2000  sesterces  rent,  a  year's  rent  at  Rome,  a  quarter's 
throughout  Italy.  To  gratify  his  friends,  he  let  them  have 
good  bargains  at  the  sales  of  the  properties  of  Pompeius  and 
others  which  he  confiscated  ;  he  increased  the  number  of 
priesthoods  and  prsetorships,and  placed  several  of  his  officers 
in  the  senate.  Having  had  himself  and  his  master  of  the 
horse,  M.  Lepidus,  (for  he  continued  to  be  dictator,)  chosen 
consuls  for  the  following  year,  he  was  preparing  to  pass  over 
to  Africa,  when  a  mutiny  broke  out  among  his  veteran  le- 
gions, who  were  disappointed  at  not  having  yet  gotten  the 
rewards  that  had  been  promised  them.  It  began  with  his 
favorite  tenth  legion.  C.  Sallustius,  (the  historian,)  whom 
he  sent  to  assure  them  that  when  the  war  was  ended  they 

[     should  have  1000  denars  a  man,  besides  the  lands  and  money 

[  already  due  to  them,  was  obliged  to  fly  for  his  life.  They 
marched  from  Campania  to  Rome,  plundering  and  murder- 
ing on  their  way,  and  came  and  posted  themselves  on  the 
Field  of  Mars.  Caesar,  in  spite  of  his  friends,  went  out,  and 
mounting  his  tribunal  demanded  what  had  brought  them 
thither  and  what  they  wanted.  They  were  disconcerted, 
and  merely  said  that  they  had  hoped  he  would  give  them 


436  HISTORY   OF   ROME. 

their  discharge  in  consequence  of  their  wounds  and  len 
of  service.  "  I  give  it  you,"  said  he,  and  then  added,  " 
when  I  have  triumphed  with  other  soldiers  I  will  still  k 
my  word  with  you."  He  was  retiring  ;  his  officers  stop 
him,  and  begged  him  to  be  less  severe,  and  to  speak  to  tt 
again.  He  addressed  them,  commencing  with  Quirii 
and  not  as  usual  Commilitones !  This  totally  overcame  tht 
they  cried  out  they  were  his  soldiers,  and  would  follow  1 
to  Africa  or  any  where  else  if  he  would  not  cast  them  < 
he  then  pardoned  them,  and  passed  over  at  their  head 
Sicily,  though  it  was  now  far  in  the  winter. 

The  Pompeians,  aided  by  king  Juba,  were  now  in  gi 
force  in  Africa.  Cato,  having  met  Pompeius'  ships,  v 
Cornelia  and  Sex.  Pompeius  at  Cyrene,  landed  all  his  tro 
there,  and  marching  them  over  land  to  the  African  provi 
joined  Scipio  and  the  other  leaders.  The  chief  cortim 
was  given  to  Scipio  as  being  a  consular,  and  Cato  took 
government  of  the  town  of  Utica. 

Caesar,  having  assembled  six  legions  in  Sicily,  set  sail  fi 
LilybaBum  with  a  part  of  them  (about  3000  men)  and  Ian 
near  Adrumetum.  Having  failed  to  take  that  town,  he  \ 
ceeded  to  another  named  Ruspina,  which  he  reached  on 
first  January,  (706 ;)  he  thence  advanced  to  Leptis,  but 
soon  returned  in  order  to  go  and  look  after  his  fleet,  wh 
had  steered  by  mistake  for  Utica.  Having  been  joined 
the  troops  on  board  the  fleet  he  encamped  at  Ruspina, 
some  days  after  engaged  a  numerous  army,  chiefly  Num 
ans,  commanded  by  Labienus.  The  battle  lasted  from 
fore  mid-day  to  sunset,  and  the  advantage  was  on  the  side 
Labienus.  As  Scipio  and  Juba  were  said  to  be  approach 
with  eight  legions  and  three  thousand  horse,  Csesar  forti 
his  camp  with  the  greatest  care,  and  sent  to  Sicily  and  e 
where  for  supplies.  When  Scipio  came  he  offered  ba 
repeatedly ;  but  Caesar,  taught  by  the  experience  of  the  i 
action,  steadily  refused  to  fight ;  endeavoring  at  the  sj 
time  to  gain  over  Scipio's  troops  and  the  people  of 
country,  in  which  he  is  said  to  have  had  some  succ 
After  some  time  he  found  himself  strong  enough  to  o 
battle,  but  Scipio  had  now  prudently  resolved  to  proti 
the  war.  Caesar  then  decamped  at  midnight,  and  went  i 
laid  siege  to  the  town  of  Thapsus.  Scipio  and  Juba 
lowed  him  thither,  and  forming  two  camps  about  eight  m 
fi'om  his,  attempted  to  throw  succors  into  the  town  ;  fail 
in  this,  they  resolved  to  give  him  battle,  though  Cato,  i 


AFRICAN    WAR.  437 

,  Strongly  advised  against  it.  Spipio  moved  down  to  the 
ide,  and  having  thrown  up  some  intrenchments  drew  his 
■f  out  before  them  with  his  elephants  on  the  wings, 
ar  also  drew  out  his  nine  legions.  While  he  was  hesi- 
g  whether  to  attack  or  not,  a  trumpeter  sounded  on  the 
L  wing ;  the  troops  then  charged  in  spite  of  their  officers : 
elephants,  not  being  well  trained,  turned  on  their  own 
when  assailed  by  the  missiles,  and  rushed  into  the  camp, 
io's  troops  broke  and  fled  to  their  former  camp,  and  then 
lat  of  Juba ;  but  this  also  being  forced  they  retired  to  a 
whither  they  were  pursued  and  slaughtered  by  Caesar's 
rans.  Ten  thousand  was  the  number  of  the  slain  ;  the 
of  the  victors  was  but  fifly  men.  Caesar  then  leaving 
3  legions  to  blockade  Thapsus,  and  sending  two  against 
vn  named  Tisdra,  advanced  with  the  remainder  toward 
a. 

ato,  who  commanded  in  this  town,  had  formed  a  council 

iree  hundred  of  the  Roman  traders  who  resided  in  it. 

m  the  news  of  the  defeat  at  Thapsus  arrived,  he  assem- 

his  council  and  tried  to  animate  them;  but  finding 

I  inclined  to  have  recourse  to  Csesar's  clemency,  he  gave 

II  hopes  of  defending  the  town,  and  sent  word  to  that 
t  to  Scipio  and  Juba,  who  were  now  in  the  neighbor- 
1.  Soon  afler  the  cavalry  which  had  fled  from  Thapsus 
ed  ;  Cato  went  out  to  try  and  engage  them  to  stay,  but 
B  he  was  away  the  three  hundred  met  and  determined 
I  surrender  :  when  he  heard  this  he  prevailed  on  the 
Iry  to  stop  for  one  day,  and  he  put  the  gates  and  citadel 
their  hands ;  his  object  being  to  get  time  to  send  away 
Eloman  senators  and  others  by  sea<  Having  closed  all 
rates  but  one  leading  to  the  port,  he  got  ships  and  every 
T  ready  for  those  who  were  to  go.  Meantime  the  cavalry 
begun  to  plunder ;  but  he  went  to  them,  and  by  giving 
I  money  prevailed  on  them  to  leave  the  town :  he  then 
L  down  to  the  port  to  see  his  friends  off.  He  afterwards 
[iged  his  accounts,  and  commended  his  children  to  his 
5tor  L.  CaBsar.  In  the  evening  he  bathed  and  supped  as 
,1  with  his   friends,  discussing  philosophical  questions  ; 

having  walked  after  supper  he  retired  to  his  room, 
re,  it  is  said,  he  read  over  Plato's  dialogue  named 
do,  \^hich  treats  Of  a  future  state  and  the  immortality  of 
soul,  and  it  is  added  slept  soundly.  Toward  morning  he 
bed  himself  with  his  sword  :  the  sound  of  his  fall  being 
d,  his  friends  ran  to  the  room,  and  his  surgeon  went  to 
37* 


438  HISTORY  OF   ROME. 

bind  up  the  wound ;  but  he  thrust  him  from  him,  tore  it 
open,  and  instantly  expired. 

Thus  died  M.  Porcius  Cato,  in  the  forty-eighth  year  of  his 
age,  a  man  possessed  of  many  noble  and  estimable  qualities, 
but  joined  with  some  defects,  among  which  his  vanity  and 
his  obstinacy  were  conspicuous.  He  was  certainly  patriotic, 
and  was  for  maintaining  the  constitution;  but  it  may  be 
doubted  if  personal  hatred  to  Caesar  was  not  the  secret 
source  of  many  of  his  apparently  most  patriotic  actions. 
His  politics  were  of  too  Utopian  a  cast  ever  to  be  really 
useful ;  for  such  is  our  nature  that  the  politician  must  know 
how  to  yield  to  circumstances  if  he  would  do  good.  We 
may  therefore  admire,  but  should  never  think  of  imitating, 
the  character  of  Cato. 

Caesar  soon  arrived  at  Utica,  where  he  granted  their  lives 
to  L.  Caesar  and  the  other  Romans ;  as  for  the  three  hun- 
dred, he  said  he  would  content  himself  with  confiscating 
their  properties  for  their  crime  in  supplying  Varus  and 
Scipio  with  money ;  he  however  most  graciously  let  them 
off  for  a  sum  of  two  hundred  millions  of  sesterces,  to  be 
paid  in  the  course  of  six  years  to  the  republic  —  that  is,  to 
himself 

King  Juba  had  set  out  with  Petreius  for  his  town  of 
Zama ;  he  found  the  gates  closed  against  him,  and  he  and 
his  companion,  seeing  no  hopes,  agreed  to  kill  one  another 
in  a  single  combat ;  Petreius  died  at  once,  Juba  was  obliged 
to  employ  the  hand  of  a  slave.  Afranius  and  Faustus  Sulla 
were  met  and  made  prisoners  in  Mauritania,  as  they  were 
making  for  Spain  with  the  cavalry  from  Utica,  by  Sitius,  a 
Roman  condottiere  who  had  declared  for  Caesar,  and  Caesar 
put  them  and  L.  Caesar  to  death.  Scipio,  on  his  way  to 
Spain,  being  obliged  to  put  into  the  port  of  Hippo,  where 
Sitius'  freebooting  squadron  lay,  was  attacked  by  it.  Hav- 
ing seen  most  of  his  vessels  sink,  he  stabbed  himself,  and 
when  one  of,  Sitius'  soldiers  on  boarding  asked  where  was 
the  general,  he  calmly  replied,  "  The  general  is  safe." 
Caesar  went  from  Utica  to  Zama,  where  he  sold  the  property 
of  king  Juba,  and  seized  that  of  the  Romans  who  resided 
there.  He  converted  the  kingdom  into  a  province,  giving 
Cirta  to  Sitius.  On  his  return  to  Utica  he  seized  and  sold 
the  property  of  all  who  had  been  centurions  under  Juba 
and  Petreius,  and  he  fined  all  the  towns  in  proportion  to 
their  means ;  he,  however,  did  not  allow  his  soldiers  to  pil- 
lage any  of  them.     He  then  set  sail  homewards,  leaving 


CJESAr's    TRIUMPHS.  439 

C.  Sallustius  as  proconsul  to  govern  the  new  province  of  Nu- 
midia,  by  whom  it  was  plundered  in  a  merciless  manner.* 

On  Caesar's  arrival  in  Rome  honors  of  every  kind  were 
decreed  to  him  by  his  obsequious  senate.  They  had  already 
resolved  that  forty  days  should  be  devoted  to  the  celebration 
of  his  African  victory ;  that  he  should  be  dictator  for  ten 
years,  inspector  of  morals  for  three ;  that  his  chariot  should 
be  placed  on  the  Capitol  opposite  the  statue  of  Jupiter,  and 
his  statue  standing  on  a  brazen  figure  of  the  world  with  the 
inscription  "  Csesar  the  semigod."  Having  addressed  the 
senate  and  the  people,  and  assured  them  of  his  clemency  and 
regard  for  the  republic,  he  prepared  to  celebrate  his  tri- 
umphs for  his  various  conquests  ;  and  in  one  month  he  tri- 
umphed four  times,  the  first  triumph  being  for  Gaul,  the 
second  for  PtolemaBus  of  Egypt,  the  third  for  Pharnaces 
of  Pontus,  and  the  fourth  for  Juba  of  Numidia.  The  first 
was  the  most  splendid  ;  but  as  the  procession  went  along 
the  Velabrum  the  axle  of  the  triumphal  car  broke,  and  in 
consequence  of  the  delay  he  could  not  ascend  the  Capitol 
till  dark,  when  forty  elephants,  ranged  on  his  right  and  left, 
bore  lights,  and  he  went  up  the  steps  on  his  knees.  In  the 
second  triumph  were  seen  pictures  of  the  deaths  of  Pothinus 
and  Achillas,  and  the  Pharos  on  fire  ;  the  third  displayed  a 
tablet  with  Veni,  vidi,  vici  !  on  it.  The  money  borne  in 
triumph  is  said  to  have  amounted  to  65,000  talents,  and  the 
gold  crowns  to  have  been  2822  in  number,  and  to  have 
weighed  2414  pounds.  He  feasted  the  people  at  22,000 
tables  placed  in  the  streets  ;  and  to  150,000  citizens  he  gave 
ten  pecks  of  corn,  ten  pounds  of  oil,  and  400  sesterces 
apiece.  There  were  public  games  of  all  kinds,  sham-battles, 
hunting  of  wild  beasts,  horse  and  chariot  races,  the  Trojan 
game,  etc.  To  reward  his  veterans  he  gave  them  each 
24,000  sesterces,  double  the  sum  to  the  centurions,  the 
quadruple  to  the  tribunes ;  and  he  assigned  them  lands,  but 
not  in  continuous  tracts,  in  order  that  present  possessors 
might  not  be  disturbed. 

Caesar  now  turned  his  thoughts  to  legislation.  He  con- 
fined the  judicial  power  to  the  senators  and  knights ;  he 
reduced  by  a  census  the  number  of  citizens  who  received 
corn  to  about  one  half;  he  sent  eighty  thousand  citizens 
away  as  colonists ;  he  enacted  that  no  freeman  under  twenty 

*  Dion,  xliii.  9.  He  was  prosecuted  for  extortion  the  next  year,  but 
Caesar  saved  him  ;  hence  his  apologists  say  that  it  was  for  Caesar,  not 
for  himself,  that  he  had  pillaged  the  province. 


440  HISTORY    OF    HOME. 

or  over  forty  years  of  age  should  be  more  than  three  years 
out  of  Italy,  and  no  senator's  son  at  all,  unless  in  the  retinue 
of  a  magistrate  ;  that  all  graziers  on  the  public  lands  should 
not  have  less  than  a  third  of  their  shepherds  freemen.  He 
granted  the  freedom  of  the  city  to  all  physicians  and  pro- 
fessors of  the  liberal  arts;  he  made  or  renewed  various 
sumptuary  laws  ;  and  he  encouraged  marriage,  and  gave 
rewards  to  those  who  had  many  children. 

As  a  means  of  securing  his  power  he  abolished  all  the 
clubs  and  unions  except  the  ancient  ones ;  for  however  use- 
ful they  might  have  formerly  proved  in  forwarding  his  own 
views,  he  knew  them  to  be  totally  incompatible  with  all 
regular  government.  Judging  also  by  his  own  experience, 
he  enacted  that  no  praetor  should  hold  a  province  for  more 
than  one  year,  no  consul  for  more  than  two.  He  further 
reserved  to  himself  the  appointment  of  one  half  of  those  who 
were  to  be  elected  to  offices  in  the  state,  and  at  the  approach 
of  the  elections  he  always  notified  to  the  people  whom  he 
would  l^ave  chosen.* 

It  was  at  this  time  also  that  Caesar  made  his  celebrated 
reformation  of  the  calendar.  The  Roman  year  had  been 
the  lunar  one  of  354  days,  and  it  was  kept  in  accordance 
with  the  solar  year  by  intercalating  months  in  every  second 
and  fourth  year.  The  pontiffs  were  charged  with  this  of- 
fice ;  but  they  exercised  it,  it  is  said,  in  an  arbitrary  manner, 
from  motives  of  partiality,  and  the  year  was  now  more  than 
two  months  in  arrear.  Caesar  therefore  added  67  days  be- 
tween November  and  December  of  this  year,  which  with  the 
intercalary  month  of  23  days  made  an  entire  addition  of  90 
days;  and  he  divided  the  year  into  months  of  30  and  31  days, 
directing  a  day  to  be  intercalated  every  fourth  year,  to  keep 
it  even  with  the  course  of  the  sun.  His  agent  in  this  change 
was  an  Alexandrian  named  Sosigenes. 

Towards  the  end  of  the  year  Caesar  was  obliged  to  return 
to  Spain,  where  the  sons  of  Pompeius  with  Labienus  and 
Varus  had  collected  a  force  of  eleven  legions,  and  had  driven 
Trebonius,  who  commanded  there,  out  of  Baetica.  In  twenty- 
seven  days  he  travelled  from  Rome  to  the  neighborhood  of 
Corduba,  and  after  various  movements  the  two  armies  met 
(March  17th,  707)  on  the  plain  of  Munda.  Cn.  Pompeius, 
who  commanded  in  chief,  had  the  advantage  in  position  and 

*  The  following  was  the  form  of  his  congi  d'Hire :  "  Ceesar,  dictator, 
illi  tribui :  Commando  tibi  ilium  et  ilium,  ut  vestro  sufiragio  suam  dig- 
nitatem teneant."     (Suet.  Jul.  Cees.  41.) 


SECOND    SPANISH    WAR.  441 

numbers,  and  he  was  so  near  gaining  the  victory,  that  Cssar, 
it  is  said,  was  about  to  put  an  end  to  himself.  He  alighted 
from  his  horse,  took  a  shield,  and  advancing  before  his  men 
declared  that  he  would  never  retire.  This  action  excited 
them  to  renewed  exertions ;  and  just  then  a  Moorish  prince 
in  Csesar's  army  having  fallen  on  Pompeius'  camp,  Labienus 
sent  hve  cohorts  to  protect  it ;  Cssar  cried  aloud  that  the 
enemy  was  flying  ;  this  roused  the  courage  of  one  side  and 
excited  the  fears  of  the  other,  and  after  a  severe  contest 
victory  remained  with  Csesar.  Labienus,  Varus,  and  30,000 
men,  among  whom  were  3000  knights,  lay  slain  on  the  side 
of  Pompeius ;  the  victors  had  1000  killed  and  500  wounded. 
Cssar  declared  that  in  his  other  battles  he  had  fought  for 
victory,  in  this  for  his  very  life  :  it  was  the  last  conflict  of  the 
Civil  War.  Cn.  Pompeius  fled  to  Carteia,  where  his  fleet 
lay  ;  but  finding  the  people  inclined  to  Csesar,  he  put  to  sea 
with  thirty  ships.  Didius,  who  commanded  Csesar's  fleet  at 
Gades,  pursued  him,  and  when  he  was  obliged  to  land  for 
water  attacked  and  burned  several  of  his  ships.  Pompeius, 
who  was  wounded,  fled  from  one  place  to  another :  and 
being  found  in  a  cavern  in  which  he  had  taken  shelter,  he 
was  put  to  death,  and  his  head,  like  his  father's,  brought  to 
Caesar.  Sex.  Pompeius,  who  commanded  in  Corduba,  fled 
to  the  mountains  of  Celtiberia.  Munda  was  taken  after  a 
siege  of  three  weeks ;  Corduba,  Hispalis,  (Seville,)  Gades, 
and  the  other  towns  opened  their  gates.  Caesar,  in  order  to 
raise  money,  heavily  fined  some  places,  sold  privileges  to 
others,  and  even  plundered  the  temple  of  Hercules  at  Gades  ; 
and  having  thus  collected  all  the  money  he  could,  he  set  oiit 
on  his  return  to  Rome,  leaving  C.  Asinius  Pollio  as  legate  in 
Spain. 

Caesar  celebrated  his  triumph  on  the  1st  of  October,  but 
though  a  magnificent  it  was  a  melancholy  sight  to  the  peo- 
ple, who  regarded  it  as  a  triumph  over  themselves.  The 
senate  however  was  never  weary  of  heaping  honors  on  him. 
He  was  made  perpetual  dictator  and  inspector  of  morals, 
given  the  pranomen  of  Imperator,  and  the  cognomen  of  Fa- 
ther of  his  Country  ;  his  statue  was  placed  among  those  of 
the  kings  on  the  Capitol  and  in  all  the  temples  and  towns  ;  it 
was  carried  with  those  of  the  gods  at  the  Circensian  games, 
and  there  was  a  pulvinar,  or  state-couch,  for  it  as  for  theirs  ; 
he  had  a  flamen  and  Luperci  like  Quirinus,  and  the  month 
Quinctilis  was  named  Julius  after  him.  He  was  allowed  to 
wear  a  laurel  crown  constantly,  to  have  a  golden  seat  in  the 

D  D  D 


442  HISTORY   OF   ROME. 

senate-house  and  Forum,  etc.  Friends  and  enemies  con- 
curred in  heaping  these  honors  on  him,  the  former  out  of 
zeal,  the  latter  it  is  said  in  the  hope  of  making  him  incur 
the  hatred  of  the  people. 

Insatiate  of  fame  and  impatient  of  repose,  Cajsar  had  al- 
ready resolved  on  a  war.  with  the  Parthians,  and  he  now  sent 
his  legions  before  him  into  Macedonia.  Meantime  he  was 
forming  various  magnificent  projects  for  his  own  glory  and 
the  benefit  of  the  people.  He  proposed  to  rebuild  Carthage 
and  Corinth  and  several  Italian  towns,  to  cut  across  the 
isthmus  of  Corinth,  to  drain  the  Pomptine  marshes,  to  let  off 
the  Fucine  lake,  to  dig  a  new  bed  for  the  Tiber  from  Rome 
to  the  sea,  to  form  a  large  port  at  Ostia,  to  make  a  causeway 
over  the  Apennines  to  the  Adriatic.  He  employed  the 
learned  Varro  to  collect  books  for  a  public  library,  and  he 
proposed  reducing  the  mass  of  the  Roman  laws  to  a  mod- 
erate compass. 

V  It  was  thus  that  CsBsar  meditated  improving  the  empire 
which  he  had  acquired  by  his  sword ;  he  moreover  proclaimed 
an  amnesty,  replaced  the  statues  of  Sulla  and  Pompeius 
which  had  been  thrown  down,  and  dismissing  his  guards 
went  attended  only  by  lictors.  But,  in  the  intoxication  of 
power  he  did  not  sufficiently  spare  the  feelings  and  preju- 
dices of  those  over  whom  he  ruled.  He  introduced  Gauls 
into  the  senate,  he  set  his  slaves  over  the  mint  and  the  revenue, 
he  did  as  he  pleased  with  all  the  high  offices ;  he  would  use 
such  language  as  this,  "  There  is  no  republic  ;  Sulla  was  an 
idiot  to  lay  down  the  dictatorship.  Men  should  speak  more 
respectfully  to  me,  and  consider  my  word  to  be  law."  When 
the  whole  senate  waited  on  him  one  day  with  a  decree  in  his 
honor,  he  did  not  even  deign  to  rise  from  his  seat  to  receive 
them.  Finally,  like  Cromwell,  not  content  with  the  solid 
power  of  a  king,  he  longed,  it  is  said,  for  the  empty  title, 
and  various  modes  of  feeling  the  pulse  of  the  people  on  this 
subject  were  employed.  As  he  was  returning  (708)  from 
keeping  the  Latin  Holidays  on  the  Alban  Mount,  some  voices 
in  the  crowd  called  him  King,  and  some  one  placed  a  diadem 
and  a  crown  of  laurel  on  one  of  his  statues.  Seeing  that 
the  people  was  not  pleased,  he  replied,  **  I  am  Caesar,  not 
king ;  "  but  he  deprived  of  their  office  two  of  the  tribunes 
when  they  imprisoned  the  man  who  had  crowned  his  statues 
A  few  days  after,  on  the  festival  of  the  Lupercalia,  (Feb,  15,) 
Antonius,  then  his  colleague  in  the  consulate  and  one  of  the 
new  Luperci,  ran  up  to  him  as  he  was  seated  in  state  on  the 


CONSPIRACY    AGAINST    C^SAR.  443 

Rostra  and  placed  a  diadem  on  his  head  ;  a  few  hired  voices 
applauded  :  Caesar  rejected  it,  and  a  general  shout  of  applause 
ensued ;  the  offer  was  repeated  with  the  same  effect.  GaBsar 
then  rose,  desiring  the  diadem  to  be  placed  on  the  statue  of 
Jupiter  as  the  only  king  of  the  Romans.  It  was  also  rumored 
that  it  was  found  in  the  Sibylline  books  that  the  Parthians 
could  only  be  conquered  by  a  king,  and  that  therefore  Cotta, 
one  of  the  keepers  of  them,  was  to  pi'opose  making  Caesar 
king. 

But  at  this  very  time  there  was  a  conspiracy  formed  to 
deprive  Caesar  of  life  and  empire.  The  members  of  it  were 
sixty  in  number,  some  of  them  his  adherents,  others  those 
who  had  fought  against  him,  to  whom  he  had  given  their  lives, 
and  even  promoted  them  to  honors.  Among  the  latter  were  C. 
Cassius  and  M.  Junius  Brutus.  Of  these  Cassius  had,  as  we 
have  seen,  been  Crassus'  legate  in  the  Parthian  war ;  he  had 
commanded  a  division  of  Pompeius'  fleet,  and  meeting  Caesar 
on  his  way  to  Egypt  had  been  pardoned  by  him,  and  was 
now  one  of  the  city  praetors.  He  was  a  man  of  very  con- 
siderable talent,  but  of  rather  a  harsh  and  stern  temper. 
Brutus  was  the  nephew  of  Cato,  to  whose  daughter  he  was 
now  married,  having  divorced  his  former  wife  Claudia  for 
that  purpose.  After  the  battle  of  Pharsalia  he  fled  to 
Larissa,  whence  he  sent  his  submission  to  Caesar,  who  joy- 
fully received  him,  and  when  he  was  going  to  Africa  set  him 
over  Cisalpine  Gaul,  and  had  now  made  him  one  of  the  city 
praetors.  His  sister  Junia  was  the  wife  of  Cassius.  A 
mistaken  sense  of  patriotism  may  have  been,  and  probably 
was,  the  motive  which  actuated  these  and  some  others ;  *  and 
even  Caesar's  own  partisans  who  shared  in  the  conspiracy, 
such  as  D.  Brutus  and  Trebonius,  may  have  acted  from  the 
same  motives,  for  though  they  fought  for  Caesar  against 
Pompeius,  it  does  not  follow  that  they  approved  of  the 
overthrow  of  the  constitution.  C.  and  P.  Servilius  Casca, 
Tillius  Cimber,  and  Minucius  Basilus,  also  of  the  Caesarian 
party,  were  among  the  conspirators.  Cn.  Domitius  and 
Q,.  Ligarius  were  Pompeians  who  engaged  in  the  plot. 

Cassius  is  said  to  have  originally  contrived  the  plot ;  those 
to  whom  he  communicated  it  advised  him  strongly  to 
engage  Brutus  in  it  if  possible  on  account  of  his  name  and 
influence,  and  Brutus  when  sounded  readily  entered  iiito  it. 

*  In  the  case  of  Brutus,  no  one  who  reads  his  letters  to  Cicero  and 
Atticus  can  dotlbt  of  it.  How  he  rises  in  moral  dignity  in  these  letters 
ovfer  Cicero ! 


444  iftlSTORY   OF    ROME. 

Brutus  was  further  urged,  it  is  said,  by  hints  such  as  these; 
on  his  tribunal  he  found  written,  "  Brutus,  dost  thou  sleep?  " 
and  «'  Thou  art  not  a  true  Brutus  !  "  and  on  the  statue  of 
the  elder  Brutus  was  written,  **  Would  there  were  a  Brutus 
now  !  "  Knowing  the  timidity  of  Cicero's  character,  and  cer- 
tain of  his  support  when  the  deed  was  done,  the  conspira- 
tors did  not  make  him  privy  to  their  design ;  but  it  is  said 
they  had  had  some  thoughts  of  admitting  Antonius,  who  Was 
offended  with  Caesar  for  having  made  him  pay  for  Pompeius' 
property  which  he  had  bought,  but  Trebonius  had  diverted 
them  from  it.  It  was  then  warmly  debated  among  them 
whether  they  should  not  kill  Antonius  and  Lepidus  along 
with  Caesar,  but  the  two  Brutuses  declaring  strongly  against 
such  an  act  as  unjust  and  impolitic,  it  was  imprudently  given 
up.  The  place  and  time  of  performing  the  deed  were  also 
matter  of  debate,  as  they  were  resolved  that  this  act  of 
public  justice,  as  they  deemed  it,  should  be  done  in  the  face 
of  day :  some  proposed  the  Field  of  Mars,  others  the  Via 
Sacra  or  the  entrance  of  the  theatre ;  but  as  the  senate  were 
to  meet  in  the  Curia  of  Pompeius  on  the  ides  of  March,  that 
place  and  day  were  finally  fixed  on.  It  is  said  moreover 
that  Caesar  knew  that  there  was  a  conspiracy  against  him, 
but  that  he  disdained  to  take  any  precautions,  saying  that 
he  would  rather  die  at  once  by  treachery  than  live  in  fear 
of  it ;  that  he  had  lived  long  enough,  and  that  the  state 
would  be  a  greater  loser  than  he  by  his  death. 

On  the  morning  of  the  ides  (15th)  of  March,  Brutus  and 
Cassius  sat  calmly  in  the  Forum  to  administer  justice,  with 
daggers  concealed  under  their  gowns.  Caesar,  who  felt  him- 
self indisposed,  and  whose  wife  is  said  to  have  had  ominous 
dreams,  was  thinking  of  not  going  to  the  senate,  but  D. 
Brutus  urging  him  he  ascended  his  litter  and  set  out :  on 
the  way,  we  are  told,  Artemidorus,  a  Greek  philosopher, 
handed  him  a  paper  with  an  account  of  the  plot,  desiring 
him  to  read  it  immediately  ;  but  he  went  in  with  the  paper 
in  his  hand.*  Popillius  Laenas,  who  a  little  before  had 
intimated  to  Brutus  and  Cassius  his  knowledge  of  the  plot, 
went  up  and  spoke  earnestly  to  him ;  the  conspirators,  who 
did  not  hear  what  he  said,  were  in  alarm,  and  laid  their 
hands  on  their  daggers.  At  length  Popillius  retired,  and  Cae- 
sar advanced  and  took  his  seat ;  the  conspirators  gathered 

*  It  is  also  said  that  Spurinna,an  aruspex,had  warned  him  to  beware 
of  the  ides  of  March ;  and  now  seeing  him  he  said,  "  Well,  the  ides  of 
March  ore  come."    "  Yes,  but  they  are  not  past !  "  replied  Spurinna. 


DEATH    AND    CHARACTER    OF    CiESAR.  445 

round  him ;  Cimber  began  to  plead  for  his  brother  who  was 
in  exile,  the  others  joined  earnestly  in  the  suit :  Caesar  was 
annoyed  at  their  importunity ;  Gimber  then  gave  the  ap- 
pointed, signal  by  seizing  his  gown  and  pulling  it  off  his 
shoulder.  "  This  is  violence,"  cried  Caesar.  Casca  instantly 
stabbed  him  under  the  throat.  CsBsar  rose,  ran  his  writing- 
style  into  Casca's  arm,  and  rushed  forward  ;  but  another  and 
another  struck  him  ;  then  despairing  of  life  he  thought  only 
of  dying  with  dignity,  and  wrapping  his  gown  around  him, 
he  fell,  pierced  by  three-and-twenty  wounds,  at  the  foot  of 
Pompeius'  statue.*  Brutus  then  waving  his  bloody  dagger 
called  aloud  on  Cicero,  and  congratulated  him  on  the  recov- 
ery of  the  public  liberty.!  He  was  going  to  address  the 
assembly,  but  the  senators  fled  out  of  the  house  in  dismay. 
Thus  perished,  in  his  fifty-sixth  year,  C.  Julius  Csesar, 
the  greatest  man  Rome,  we  would  almost  say  the  world, 
ever  beheld.  Equally  the  general,  the  statesman,  the  ora- 
tor, and  the  man  of  letters  and  taste,|  he  must  have  shone 
in  any  station  and  under  any  form  of  society.  His  courage 
was  not  merely  physical,  it  was  moral ;  his  eloquence  was 
simple  and  masculine ;  his  taste  pure  and  elegant.  He  was 
clement,  generous,  and  magnanimous ;  but  he  was  also 
insatiably  ambitious:  and  though  not  cruel,  (as  no  really 
great  man  is,)  he  could  shed  torrents  of  blood  without  re- 
morse when  he  had  any  object  to  gain;  and  though  he 
enforced  the  laws  when  he  had  the  supreme  power,  he  had 
trampled  on  them  with  contempt  when  they  stood  in  his 
way.  To  say  that  Cassar  overthrew  the  liberties  of  his 
country,  unless  we  dignify  anarchy  with  the  name  of  liberty, 
we  hold  to  be  incorrect ;  and  had  his  motive  been  the  love 
of  Rome,  and  not  the  gratification  of  his  own  ambition,  we 
might  even  feel  disposed  to  praise  him.  But  he  cared  not 
for  his  country ;  the  love  of  fame  alone  actuated  him ;  in- 
stead of  staying  in  Rome,  and  seeking  to  promote  the  hap- 
piness of  those  who  were  become  his  subjects,  he  was  now 

*  Some  writers  say  that  when  Brutus  struck,  Csesar  cried  out  in 
Greek, ''  And  thou,  my  son  !  "  Csesar,  it  is  well  known,  had  an  in- 
trigue with  Scrvilia,  Brutus'  mother,  but  he  was  only  fifteen  years 
older  than  Brutus,  and  so  could  not  well  have  been  his  father. 

t  Cic.  Phil.  ii.  12. 

t  His  solicitude  about  his  dress  and  his  personal  appearance  was  a 
curious  trait  in  Csesar's  character.    No  honor  that  was  decreed  him 
gave  him  more  pleasure  than  that  of  wearing  a  laurel  wreath,  as  it 
helped  to  conceal  his  baldness.    Suet.  Jul.  Cees.  45. 
38 


446  ^HISTORY  OF  ROME. 

on  the  point  of  running,  in  imitation  of  Alexander,  to  at- 
tempt the  conquest  of  the  East,  leaving  the  supreme  power 
at  Rome  in  the  hands  of  such  men  as  Antonius  and  Dola- 
bella.  According  tO  the  old  Valerian  law,*  Csesar  waa 
legally  slain :  we  are  not  justified  in  ascribing  any  but  pa- 
triotic motives  to  most  of  the  conspirators :  but  if  his  assas- 
sinatioii  was  an  act  of  justice,  according  to  the  ideas  of  those 
times,  never  was  there  a  more  useless,  a  more  pernicious 
act  of  justice  performed. 


CHAPTER  XILf 

AFFAIRS  AT  ROME  AFTER  C^SAR's  DEATH. HIS  FUNERAL. 

CONDUCT    OF  ANTONIUS. OCTAVIUS  AT  ROME. QUARREL 

BETWEEN     HIM    AND    ANTONIUS. MUTINENSIAN    WAR. 

CiESAR  MADE   CONSUL.  ■ —  THE  TRIUMVIRATE  AND  PROSCRIP- 
TION.   DEATH    OF    CICERO. HIS  CHARACTER. ACTS  OF 

THE    TRIUMVIRS. WAR     WITH     BRUTUS    AND     CASSIUS. 

BATTLE  OF  PHILIPPI. DEATH  OF  BRUTUS  AND  CASSIUS. 

ANTONIUS    AND    CLEOPATRA. C^SAR's     DISTRIBUTION    OP 

LANDS. PERUSIAN  WAR. RETURN  OF  ANTONIUS  TO  ITALY. 

WAR   WITH    SEX.     POMPEIUS. PARTHIAN    WAR.  — ■  RUP- 
TURE BETWEEN  C^SAR  AND  ANTONIUS. BATTLE  OP  ACTI- 

UM. LAST  EFFORTS  OF  ANTONIUS.  DEATH  OP  ANTONIUS 

AND     CLEOPATRA.  SOLE     DOMINION     OP    CiESAR. CON- 
CLUSION. 

The  terror  of  the  senate  at  the  assassination  of  Caesar  was 
shared  by  the  people,  and  the  conspirators  not  knowing  how 
they  might  finally  act,  and  aware  of  the  great  number  of 
soldiers  that  were  in  and  about  the  city,  deemed  it  their 
safest  course  to  retire  to  the  Capitol,  whither  several  of  the 
senate  and  the  nobility  repaired  to  them.  The  dead  body 
of  Caesar,  which  lay  in  the  senate-house,  was  placed  in  his 
litter  by  three  of  his  slaves  and  taken  home.  Antonius 
fled  and  concealed  himself;  Lepidus  retired  to  the  troops 

*  See  above,  p.  33. 

t  Dion,  xlv.-li.  Appian,  B.  C.  iii.-v.  Veil.  Pat.  ii.  59-89.  Plut. 
Cicero,  Brutus,  Antonius. 


AFFAIRS    AT    ROME    AFTER    CJESAr's    DEATH.         447 

which  he  had  in  the  island  of  the  Tiber,*  and  transported 
them  without  delay  over  to  the  Field  of  Mars. 

The  next  day  passed  in  conferences  and  negotiations. 
Brutus  and  Qassius  came  down  and  harangued  the  people 
in  the  Forum,  and  were  heard  with  respect ;  but  when  the 
praetor  L.  Cornelius  Cinna  began  to  accuse  Caesar,  the  people 
showed  such  anger  that  the  conspirators  deemed  it  prudent 
to  return  to  the  Capitol ;  and  Brutus,  expecting  to  be  be- 
sieged, made  those  who  had  joined  them  there  retire,  not 
to  share  in  the  danger.  On  the  third  day  (the  Hth)  Anto- 
niuSjt  as  consul,  assembled  the  senate  in  the  temple  of 
Earth,  (Tellus,)  to  make  the  final  arrangements  with  the 
conspirators.  Cicero  proposed  an  amnesty,  like  that  at 
Athens  in  the  time  of  the  Thirty  ;  to  which  all  agreed.  An- 
tonius  moved  that  the  conspirators  should  be  invited  to  join 
them,  and  he  sent  his  son  to  the  Capitol  as  a  hostage  for 
their  security.  They  came  down,  and  Cassius  supped  that 
evening  with  Antonius,  Brutus  with  Lepidus.  Antonius 
also  moved  that  all  Caesar's  acts  should  be  confirmed ;  this 
was  opposed  ;  but  on  his  assurance  that  it  should  only  ex- 
tend to  those  acts  which  were  public  and  known,  that  only 
one  exile  was  to  be  restored,  and  no  immunities  granted  to 
any  towns  or  countries,  it  was  passed,  with  a  restriction 
that  no  grant  which  was  to  take  place  after  the  ides  of  March 
should  be  valid.  It  was  finally  resolved  that  Caesar's  fune- 
ral should  be  solemnized  at  the  public  expense,  a  measure 
to  which  Brutus  had  agreed,  though  Cassius  opposed  it; 
and  Cicero's  prudent  friend,  T.  Pomponius  Atticus,  had  de- 

*  He  was  preparing  to  set  out  with  them  for  Spain,  of  which  CsBsar 
had  given  him  the  government. 

t  As  Antonius  becomes  now  an  actor  of  so  much  importance,  we 
will  sketch  his  previous  history.  He  was  grandson  of  the  great  orator, 
(see  p.  343,)  and  son  of  the  Antonius  who  commanded  against  the 
pirates,  (p.  360,  361.)  In  his  youth  he  was  riotous  and  debauched,  and 
squandered  his  patrimony  before  he  assumed  the  toga.  His  step-father 
was  Catilina's  associate  Lentulus ;  after  whose  death  he  joined  Clodius, 
and  shared  in  the  violence  of  his  tribunate.  He  then  went  abroad,  and 
became  commander  of  the  horse  under  Gabinius  in  Syria,  and  had  his 
part  in  the  restoration  of  PtolemsBus,  (p.  431.)  On  his  return,  his  debts 
driving  him  from  Rome,  he  went  to  Gaul  to  Caesar,  who  aided  him 
with  his  money  and  credit  in  his  suit  for  the  quajstorship ;  and  Cicero, 
to  oblige  Csesar,  exerted  himself  so  strenuously  in  his  favor,  that  An- 
tonius attributed  his  success  to  him,  and,  to  prove  his  gratitude,  attempted 
to  kill  Clodius  in  the  Forum.  As  soon  as  he  was  made  qusestor,  he  went 
back  to  Ceesar,  without  waiting  for  an  appointment  from  the  senate  ; 
he  afterwards  returned,  and  was  chosen  one  of  the  tribunes ;  and  we 
have  seen  how  useful  he  proved  to  Caesar. 


448  HISTORY   OP   ftOME. 

clared  that  if  there  was  a  public  funeral  all  was  lost.  At 
this  time  also  Cicero's  son-in-law,  P.  Dblabella,  whom  Cae- 
sar had  nominated  to  be  consul  in  his  place,  entered  of  him- 
self on  the  office  ;  and  Lepidus  took  in  like  manner  the  high 
priesthood  which  Caesar  had  held.  The  following  day  the 
thanks  of  the  senate  were  given  to  Antonius  for  his  prudent 
conduct,  and  provinces  decreed  to  the  principal  conspirators. 

CsBsar's  will  was  now  opened  and  read  at  the  house  of 
Antonius,  and  it  was  found  that  he  had  adopted  and  made 
his  principal  heir  C.  Octavius,  the  grandson  of  his  sister ;  that 
he  had  bequeathed  the  citizens  300  sesterces  apiece,  and 
left  them  his  gardens  near  the  Tiber.  The  funeral  then 
took  place.  A  small  temple  adorned  with  gold  was  raised 
in  front  of  the  Rostra,  and  his  body  placed  in  it  on  an  ivory 
couch,  the  robe  in  which  he  had  died  being  hung  over  it; 
the  pyre  meantime  was  formed  in  the  Field  of  Mars,  whither 
all  who  chose  w6re  directed  to  carry  their  spices  and  perfumes 
to  be  burnt  on  it.  Antonius  then  ascended  the  Rostra ;  he 
directed  the  decrees  of  the  senate  in  Caesar's  honor  to  be 
read,  and  the  oath  taken  by  the  senators  not  only  not  to 
make  any  attempt  on  his  life,  but  to  defend  it  at  the  hazard 
of  their  own.  He  then  briefly  addressed  the  people.*  The 
magistrates  and  those  who  had  borne  office  under  Caesar 
took  up  the  body  to  carry  it  to  the  Field  of  Mars  ;  but  the 
rabble,  who  had  been  excited  by  verses  distributed  among 
them,  would  not  allow  them  to  proceed,  some  insisting  that 
it  should  be  burnt  in  the  temple  of  the  Capitoline  Jupiter, 
others  in  the  curia  of  Pompeius,  in  which  he  was  slain. 
Suddenly  two  armed  soldiers  advanced  with  lighted  tapers 
and  set  fire  to  the  bier ;  the  crowd  broke  up  all  the  seats  and 
got  brushwood  and  every  thing  else  that  came  to  hand  to 
feed  the  flames  ;  the  musicians  and  players  threw  on  them 
their  dresses,  the  veterans  their  arms,  the  women  their  own 
and  their  children's  ornaments  to  honor  Caesar.  The  mob 
then  attempted  to  set  fire  to  the  houses  of  the  conspirators, 
and  they  murdered  C.  Helvius  Cinna,  a  tribune,  and  one  of 
Caesar's  friends,  mistaking  him  for  his  namesake  the  praetor, 
and  carried  his  head  about  on  a  spear. 

The  conspirators  now  found  it  advisable  to  leave  Rome; 
but  Antonius,  not  feeling  himself  yet  strong  enough  to  act 
as  he  intended,  still  wore  the   mask   of  moderation.     He 

*  Suetonius,  Jul.  Caesar,  84.  Others  say  he  displayed  Caesar's 
bloody  robe  and  excited  the  people  to  vengeance  ;  but  this  cannot  have 
been,  as  it  was  his  policy  now  to  keep  fair  with  the  conspirators. 


CONDUCT   OF    ANTONIUS.  449 

spoke  highly  of  Brutus  and  Cassius,  obtained  leave  for  them, 
though  prsetors,  to  stay  away  from  the  city,  and  had  a  de- 
cree passed  abolishing  forever  the  name  and  office  of  dic- 
tator. As  the  mob  had  erected  an  -altar  with  a  pillar  on  the 
spot  where  they  had  burnt  Caesar's  body  and  offered  sacri- 
fices on  it,  he  seized  and  put  their  ringleader  to  death ;  and 
Dolabella  afterwards  demolished  the  pillar  and  altar,  and 
executed  several  of  the  most  riotous  of  the  mob. 

Antonius,  having  made  a  tour  through  Italy  to  collect  the 
veterans  and  draw  them  toward  Rome,  assembled  the  senate 
on  the  1st  of  June;  when  as  none  ventured  to  appear  but 
his  own  partisans,  he  had  what  decrees  he  pleased  passed. 
Pretending  fear  on  account  of  the  decrees  in  favor  of  the 
republic,  he  asked  for  a  guard  to  protect  him,  and  when  it 
was  granted,  he  surrounded  himself  with  six  thousand  vet- 
erans. He  then  had  the  execution  of  Caesar's  acts  com- 
mitted to  the  consuls,  and  as  he  had  Caesar's  papers  and  his 
secretary  Faberius  in  his  hands  he  now  could  forge  and  do 
as  he  pleased.  He  therefore  recalled  exiles,  granted  immu- 
nities to  whom  he  chose  and  who  could  pay  for  them,*  and 
thus  amassed  a  large  quantity  of  money.  Calpurnia,  Cae- 
sar's wife,  had,  in  her  first  terror,  given  up  to  him  all  the 
ready  money  that  Caesar  had  left  behind  him,  amounting  to 
100,000,000  sesterces,  and  he  seized  the  public  treasure  of 
700,000,000  sesterces  which  Caesar  had  placed  in  the  tem- 
ple of  Ops.  He  thus  had  been  enabled  to  pay  off  his  own 
debts  of  40,000,000  sesterces,  purchase  over  his  colleague 
Dolabella,  and  gain  the  soldiery  to  his  side.  As  Sex.  Pom- 
peius  was  again  in  arms,  Antonius  and  Lepidus,  aware  of 
the  annoyance  he  might  give  them,  had  a  decree  passed 
restoring  him  to  his  estates  f  and  honors,  and  giving  him 
the  command  at  sea  with  as  full  powers  as  his  father  had 
enjoyed. 

The  young  C.  Octavius,  a  youth  of  nineteen  years  of  age, 
was  at  Apollonia  pursuing  his  studies  at  the  time  of  Caesar's 
death  :  the  officers  of  the  troops  about  there  waited  on  him 
with  a  tender  of  their  services,  and  some  of  his  frieilds  ad- 


*  Though  Caesar  hated  no  man  more  than  Deiotarus,  Antonius  re- 
stored him  his  dominions,  in  compliance,  as  he  said,  with  the  will  of 
Csesar.  The  price  paid  by  the  king  was  10.000,000  sesterces  :  the  bar- 
gain was  made  by  his  agents  with  Fulvia  the  wife  of  Antonius. 

t  It  may  give  some  idea  of  the  wealth  of  the  Roman  nobles  to  know 
that  Pompeius'  property  (independent  of  his  plate  and  jewels)  was 
valued  at  700,000,000  sesterces,  or  £5,651,037  of  our  money. 

38  *  E  E  E 


450  HISTORY   OF    ROME. 

vised  him  to  accept  them ;  but  this  course  did  not  suit  his 
naturally  cautious  temper,  and  he  only  said  that  he  would 
go  to  Rome  and  claim  his  uncle's  estates.  In  the  present 
posture  of  affairs  eVen  this  course  seemed  too  hazardous  to 
many  of  his  friends,  and  his  mother  Atia  and  her  husband  L. 
Marcius  Philippus  wrote  to  dissuade  hiin  from  it.  He  how- 
ever persisted,  and  on  his  landing  at  Brundisium,  the  vete- 
rans flocked  to  him  complaining  of  Antonius'  tardiness  to 
avenge  the  de^th  of  Caesar.  He  thence  proceeded  to  join 
his  mother  at  Cumae,  and  there  he  was  introduced  to  Cicero, 
whom  he  assured  that  he  would  be  always  governed  by  his 
advice.  Octavius  then  set  out  for  Rome  ;  when  he  came 
near  the  city  crowds  of  Caesar's  friends  met  him  and  attended 
him  on  his  entrance.  Next  day,  having  had  his  claim  duly 
registered,  he  went  to  M.  Antonius  and  demanded  posses- 
sion of  his  uncle's  money  and  assets,  that  he  might  pay  the 
legacies.  Antonius  made  a  brief  reply,  telling  him  he  was 
young  and  did  not  know  what  he  was  about ;  he  impeded 
him  in  getting  his  adoption  confirmed  by  the  curies  ;  and 
further,  when  Octavius,  though  a  patrician,  sought  the 
tribunate  vacant  by  the  murder  of  Helvius  Cinna,  Antonius 
also  opposed  him. 

Octavius,  (whom  we  shall  henceforth  call  Caesar,*)  seeing 
he  had  no  hopes  of  Antonius,  turned  to  the  senate  and  peo- 
ple ;  the  former  seemed  disposed  to  favor  him  against  An- 
tonius, and  he  easily  won  the  latter  by  a  promise  of  even 
more  money  than  Caesar  had  left  them  in  his  will,  and  of 
treating  them  with  splendid  shows.  To  perform  these  prom- 
ises he  had  to  sell  his  own  estate  and  his  succession  to 
his  uncle's,  and  even  those  of  his  mother  and  his  father-in- 
law,  who  now  supported  him  heartily. 

Brutus  and  Cassius  soon  after  left  Italy,  regarding  their 
cause  there  as  lost,  and  the  chief  hope  of  the  republicans 
lay  in  the  increasing  coolness  between  Ciesar  and  Antonius. 
The  latter  did  all  in  his  power  to  gain  the  veterans;  he 
estranged  himself  more  and  more  from  the  republican  party, 
which  therefore  looked  to  his  rival,  who,  it  is  said,  formed 
a  design  against  his  life,  and  sent  some  slaves  to  his  house 
to  assassinate  him.f     They  both  began  to  make  preparations 


*  By  the  rule  of  adoption,  his  name  now  became  C.  Julius  Ceesar 
Octivi^inus.  It  is  quite  an  error  to  call  him  henceforth  Octavius  •,  we 
might  as  well  call  the  younger  Afric&nus  iEmilius. 

r  Suet.  Octav.  10. 


qUARREL  BETWEEN  OCTAVIUS  AND  ANTONIUS.   451 

for  war,  and  Antonius  in  the  beginning  of  October  set  out 
for  Brundisium  to  meet  four  legions  which  he  had  recalled 
from  Macedonia.  Cassar  sent  his  agents  to  try  to  purchase 
the  fidelity  of  these  legions  ;  he  himself  went  to  solicit  the 
veterans  settled  about  Capua,  and  as  he  gave  500  denars 
a  man,  a  number  of  them  joined  him.  Antonius  was  but 
coolly  received  by  the  soldiers,  and  when  he  offered  them 
100  denars  each,  they  left  his  tribunal  with  contempt.  In 
a  rage  he  summoned  the  centurions  whom  he  suspected  to 
his  quarters,  and  had  them  massacred  in  the  presence  of 
himself  and  his  wi:fe  Fulvia.  Caesar's  agents  took  advantage 
of  this  to  gain  over  the  soldiers,  and  but  one  of  the  legions 
could  be  induced  to  follow  Antonius  to  Rome ;  the  other 
three  marched  along  the  coast  without  declaring  for  either 
side.  At  Rome  Antonius  published  several  edicts  in  abuse 
of  Caesar,  Cicero,  and  others,  and  he  had  summoned  the 
senate  with  the  intention  of  having  Caesar  declared  a  public 
enemy ;  but  hearing  that  the  three  legions  had  declared  for 
him,  he  left  Rome  in  haste,  and  putting  himself  at  the  head 
of  his  troops  set  out  for  Cisalpine  Gaul,  which,  though  the 
province  of  D.  Brutus,  he  had  made  the  people  decree  to 
himself  without  asking  the  consent  of  the  senate. 

Rome  being  now  free  from  the  presence  of  Antonius' 
troops,  Cicero  ventured  to  return  to  it ;  and  having  received 
an  assurance  that  Caesar  would  be  a  friend  to  Brutus,  and 
seen  that  he  allowed  Casca,  who  had  given  the  dictator  the 
first  blow,  to  enter  on  the  tribunate  to  which  he  had  been 
elected,  he  resolved  to  keep  no  measures  with  Antonius ; 
both  in  the  senate  and  to  the  people  he  inveighed  against 
him,  extolling  Caesar  and  D.  Brutus,  and  calling  on  the 
senate  to  act  with  vigor  in  the  defence  of  the  republic* 
The  remainder  of  the  year  was  spent  in  making  prepara- 
tions for  war  against  Antonius,  who  was  now  actually  be- 
sieging D.  Brutus  in  Mutina.  Caesar,  with  the  approbation 
of  Cicero,  who  had  procured  him  the  title  of  proprsetor, 
marched  after  Antonius  to  watch  his  movements. 

On  the  first  of  January  (709)  the  new  consuls,  A.  Hir- 
tius  and  C.  Vibius  Pansa,  entered  on  their  office  ;  and  in 
the  senate,  in  spite  of  the  eloquence  of  Cicero,  the  motion 
of  d.  Fufius  Calenus  to  send  an  embassy  to  Antonius  was 
carried,  after, a  debate  of  three  days.     Three  consulars,  Sex. 

*  The  speeches,  fourteen  in  number,  delivered  by  Cicero  against 
Antonius  are  called  Philippics,  after  those  of  Demosthenes. 


452  HISTORY    OF    ROB<E. 

Sulpicius,  L.  Piso,  and  L.  Philippus  were  sent.  Meantime 
the  levies  went  on  with  great  spirit,  and  an  army  under 
Hirtius  took  the  field  against  Antonius.  The  embassy  hav- 
ing been  detained  by  the  illness  and  death  of  Sulpicius,  did 
not  return  till  the  beginning  of  February,  when  the  senate 
was  informed  that  Antonius  refused  obedience  unless  they 
would  confirm  all  the  acts  of  his  consulate,  give  lands 
and  rewards  to ,  all  his  troops,  and  to  himself  the  govern- 
ment of  Transalpine  Gaul  for  five  years,  with  six  legions. 
On  the  motion  of  Cicero,  Antonius  was  then  in  effect,  though 
not  in  words,  declared  a  public  enemy,  and  the  people  were 
ordered  to  assume  the  sagum,  or  military  habit.  As  Brutus 
was  closely  pressed  in  Mutina,  attempts  were  made  in  the 
senate  to  have  the  negotiations  with  Antonius  renewed,  but 
they  were  defeated  by  the  forcible  eloquence  of  Cicero ;  and 
Pansa  at  length  set  out  about  the  middle  of  March  to  attempt 
the  relief  of  Brutus. 

When  Antonius  heard  of  Pansa's  approach  he  secretly 
drew  out  his  best  troops  to  attack  him  before  he  should  join 
Hirtius.  On  the  15th  of  April,  the  day  that  Pansa  was  to 
enter  Hirtius'  camp,  he  found  the  horse  and  light  troops  of 
Antonius,  who  kept  his  legions  out  of  view  in  an  adjacent 
village,  prepared  to  oppose  him.  A  part  of  his  troops 
charged  them  without  waiting  for  orders;  Antonius  brought 
out  his  legions ;  the  action  became  brisk  and  general ;  and 
Pansa's  troops  were  finally  driven  to  their  camp,  which  Anto- 
nius vainly  attempted  to  storm ;  and  as  he  was  returning  he 
was  met  by  Hirtius  and  defeated  with  great  loss,  and  another 
body  of  his  troops,  which  attacked  Hirtius'  camp,  was  driven 
oif  by  CaBsar,  who  commanded  there.  Three  or  four  days 
after,  Hirtius  and  Caesar  made  a  vigorous  attack  on  the  camp 
of  Antonius,  who  drew  out  his  legions  and  gave  them  battle  ; 
iti  the  heat  of  the  action  Brutus  made  a  sally  from  the  town. 
Hirtius  forced  his  way  into  the  camp,  but  was  slain  near  the 
prcBtorium ;  Caesar  however  completed  the  victory,  and  An- 
tonius fled  with  his  cavalry  toward  the  Alps. 

The  consul  Pansa,  who  had  been  severely  wounded  in  the 
first  engagement,  died  the  next  day  at  Bononia,  (Bologna,) 
whither  he  had  been  conveyed.  The  deaths  of  the  two  consuls 
happened  so  very  opportunely  for  Csestir,  that  he  was  accused, 
though  certainly  without  reason,  of  having  caused  them.*  He 
was  now  at  the  head  of  nearly  the  entire  army,  for  the  vete- 

*  Saet.  Octav.  H. 


C^SAR   MADE    CONSUL.  4^ 

rans  would  not  serve  under  Brutus,  who  was  thus  unable  to 
pursue  Antonius;  and  as  Caesar,  having  other  views,  would 
not  follow  him,  he  was  able  t6  form  a  junction  with  his  legate 
P.  Ventidius,  who  was  bringing  him  three  legions,  and  to 
effect  his  retreat  over  the  Alps.  At  Rome,  on  the  motion  of 
Cicero,  all  kinds  of  honors  were  lavished  on  the  slain  and 
living  generals;  and,  among  the  rest,  the  lesser  triumph, 
named  ovation,  was  decreed  to  CaBsar. 

There  were  in  this  time  two  Roman  armies  in  Gaul,  the 
one  commanded  by  Lepidus,  who  had  stopped  there  on  his 
way  to  Spain,  the  other  by  L.  Munatius  Plancus,  the  con- 
sul elect.  The  former,  though  he  had  sent  reiterated  assur- 
ances of  fidelity  to  the  senate,  joined  Antonius  when  he  came 
to  the  vicinity  of  his  camp:  the  latter  united  his  forces  with 
those  of  D.  Brutus;  but  when  he  found  that  Asinius  Pollio 
had  led  two  legions  out  of  Spain  to  the  aid  of  the  rebels  (for 
Lepidus  had  been  also  declared  a  public  enemy)  he  took  the 
same  side,  and  even  attempted  to  betray  Brutus  to  them. 
Brutus  endeavored  to  make  his  escape  to  M.  Brutus,  who 
was  in  Macedonia,  but  he  was  betrayed  and  taken  and  put  to 
death  by  the  soldiers  whom  Antonius  had  sent  iji  pursuit 
ofhiial 

Caesar,  not  content  with  the  honors  decreed  him,  demand- 
ed, it  is  said,  a  triumph,  and  on  its  being  refused  began  to 
think  of  a  reconciliation  with  Antonius.  Though  but  a  youth 
he  then  resolved  to  claim  the  consulate,  and  it  is  also  said 
that  he  induced  Cicero  to  approve  of  his  project  by, flattering 
his  self-love,  holding  out  to  him  the  prospect  of  becoming  his 
colleague  and  his  director.  As  however  no  one  could  be 
found  to  propose  him,  he  sent  a  deputation  of  his  officers  to 
demand  it.  The  senate  hesitated ;  the  centurion  Cornelius, 
throwing  back  his  cloak,  showed  the  hilt  of  his  sword  and 
said,  "  This  will  make  him  if  you  will  not."  Csesar  himself 
soon  appeared  at  the  head  of  his  troops ;  two  legions  which 
were  just  arrived  from  Africa,  and  had  been  set  to  defend  the 
Janiculan,  went  over  to  him ;  no  opposition  could  be  made ; 
an  assembly  of  the  people  chose  him  and  his  cousin  Q,.  Pe- 
dius  consuls,  and  they  entered  on  their  office  on  the  19th  of 
the  month  Sextilis.  Caesar  was  now  resolved  to  keep  meas- 
ures no  longer  with  the  republican  party.''  Pedius  proposed 
a  law  for  bringing  to  trial  all  concerned,  directly  or  indi- 
rectly, in  causing  the  dictator's  death ;  the  conspirators  were 
all  impeached,  and  none  of  course  appearing  they  \vere  out- 
lawed.    Sex.  Pompeius^  though  he  had  not  had  the  slightest 


454  HISTORY   OF   ROME. 

concern  in  the  deed,  was  included  in  the  sentence,  as  the 
object  proposed  was  not  to  avenge  the  death  of  the  elder, 
but  IQ  establish  the  power  of  the  younger  Caesar,  who  for 
this  purpose  now  distributed  to  the  citizens  the  legacies  left 
them  by  his  uncle. 

Having  settled  the  affairs  of  the  city  to  his  mind,  Caesar 
set  out  with  his  troops  to  hold  the  personal  interview,  which 
had  been  long  since  arranged,  with  Lepidus  and  Antonius, 
who  had  passed  the  Alps  for  the  purpose.  The  place  of  meet- 
ing was  a  small  island  in  a  stream  named  the  Rhenus,  (Reno^) 
about  two  miles  from  3ononia.  Each  encamped  with  five  le- 
gions in  view  of  the  island,  which  Lepidus  entered  the  first 
to  see  that  all  was  safe;  and  on  his  giving  the  signal,  Caesar 
and  Antonius  approached  and  passed  over  to  it  from  the 
opposite  banks  by  bridges,  which  they  left  guarded  each  by 
three  hundred  men.  They  first,  it  is  said,  searched  each 
other  to  see  that  they  had  no  concealed  weapons,  and  then 
sat  in  conference  during  three  days,  the  middlie  seat  being 
given  to  Caesar  as  consul.  It  was  agreed  among  them,  that 
under  the  title  of  Triumvirs  for  settling  the  Republic  they 
should  jointly  hold  the  supreme  power  for  five  years,  appoint 
to  all  offices,  and  decide  on  all  public  affairs;  that  Caesar 
should  have  for  his  province  Africa,  Sicily,  and  the  other 
islands,  Lepidus  Spain  and  Narbonese  Gaul,  and  Antonius  the 
two  other  Gauls  both  sides  of  the  Alps;  that  Caesar  and  An- 
tonius, each  with  twenty  legions,  should  prosecute  the  war 
against  Brutus  and  Cassius,  and  Lepidus  with  three  have 
charge  of  the  city;  that  finally,  at  the  end  of  the  war,  eight- 
een of  the  best^and  richest  municipal  towns  and  colonies  * 
of  Italy,  with  their  lands,  should  be  taken  from  their  owners 
and  given  to  their  faithful  soldiers.  They  then  proceeded 
to  the  horrible  act  of  drawing  up  a  proscription  list  after  the 
example  of  Sulla,  which  was  to  contain  the  names  of  their 
public  and  private  enemies,  and  of  those  whose  wealth  exci* 
ted  their  cupidity.  Antonius  insisted  on  Cicero's  being  in- 
cluded ;  Caesar  is  said  to  have  shrunk  from  this  deed,  but 
after  holding  out  for  two  days  he  at  length  gave  him  up,  as 
did  Lepidus  his  own  brother  Paulus,  and  Antonius  his  uncle 
L.  Caesar.  The  list  is  said  to  have  contained  the  names 
of  300  senators  and  2000  knights.f  Caesar  as  consul  read  to 

J' 

*  Appian  enumerates  Capua,  Rhegium,  Venusia,  Beneventun^Nu 
ceria,  Ariminum,  and  Hipponiunt  ^; 

t  Appian  B.  C.  iv.  5.    Livy  says  130,  Florus  140  senators. 


THE    TRIUMVIRATE    AND    PROSCRIPTION.  455 

the  soldiers  all  the  articles  of  their  agreement  but  the  pro- 
scription list;  their  joy  was  unbounded,  and  they  insisted 
on  a  marriage  between  Gaesar  and  Clodia,  the  daughter  of 
Antonius'  wife  Fulvia  by  her  first  husband  Clodius. 

The  triumvirs  having  selected  seventeen  names  of  the  most 
obnoxious  persons,  sent  off  some  soldiers  to  murder  them 
without  delay.  Four  were  met  and  slain  at  once,  but  the  tu- 
mult made  by  the  soldiers  in  searching  after  the  others  filled 
the  city  with  such  alarm  that  the  consul  Pedius  had  to  run 
about  the  streets  all  night  to  quiet  the  people,  and  in  the 
morning  he  published  the  names  of  the  seventeen.  He  died 
the  next  day  in  consequence  of  his  great  exertions  and  unea- 
siness of  mind.  A  few  days  after,  the  triumvirs  arrived,  and 
having  had  a  law  proposed  by  one  of  the  tribunes  for  invest- 
ing them  with  their  new  office,  entered  on  it  on  the  27th  of 
November.  They  immediately  published  their  proscription 
list,  and  the  scenes  of  Sulla's  days  were  renewed  in  all  their 
horrors,  and  the  vices  and  virtues  of  human  nature  had  again 
full  room  for  display.  "The  fidelity  of  the  wives  of  the  pro- 
scribed," says  a  historian,*  "  was  exemplary,  that  of  the 
freedmen  middling,  slaves  showed  some,  sons  none  at  all," 

M.  Cicero,  his  brother  and  his  nephew  were  among  the 
first  sought  out.  Cicero,  who  in  reliance  on  Caesar  had 
feared  no  danger,  was  at  his  Tusculan  villa  when  he  heard 
that  his  name  was  in  the  fatal  list.  He  set  out  with  his  brother 
and  nephew  for  his  villa  at  Astura,  which  was  on  the  coast 
near  Antium,  intending  to  make  their  escape  by  sea ;  but 
Q,.  Cicero  having  no  money  returned  to  Rome  with  his  son, 
thinking  he  could  remain  concealed  there  till  he  had  pro- 
cured what  he  wanted ;  they  were  however  betrayed  by  their 
slaves  and  both  put  to  death.  M.  Cicero  got  on  board  a  vessel 
at  Astura,  and  sailed  as  far  as  Circeii^  where  he  landed.  He 
was  perplexed  how  to  act,  and  whether  he  should  go  to  Brutus, 
Cassius,  or  Pompeius :  at  times  he  did  not  wholly  despair  of 
Cffisar;  at  other  times  he  thought  of  returning  secretly  to 
Rome,  and  entering  Caesar's  house  kill  himself  on  his  hearth, 
and  thus  draw  on  him  the  vengeance  of  heaven  ;  death  in  fine 
he  now  regarded  as  his  only  refuge :  t  he  however  yielded 
to  the  entreaties  of  his  slaves,  and  let  them  convey  him  by 
sea  to  his  villa  at  Caieta ;  but  he  would  go  no  further,  de- 


*  Veil.  Pat.  ii.  67.    "  So  hard,"  he  adds  with  respect  to  the  sons, 
"  is  the  delay  of  a  hope  any  how  conceived  !  " 
t  Seneca,  Suasor.  6. 


456  HISTORY    OF    ROME. 

daring  that  he  would  die  in  the  country  he  so  often  had 
saved.*  He  went  to  bed  and  slept  soundly,  though  a  flock  of 
crows,  we  are  told,  as  if  to  warn  him  of  his  impending  fate, 
made  a  continual  fluttering  and  crying  about  the  house.  His 
slaves,  apprehending  danger,  made  him  get  up,  and  placing 
him  in  a  litter  carried  him  through  the  woods  toward  the  sea. 
The  soldiers  soon  arrived  at  the  villa,  and  finding  him  gone 
pursued  after  him.  When  they  came  up,  his  slaves  prepared 
to  fight  in  his  defence,  but  he  forbade  them,  and  stretching 
his  neck  out  of  the  litter,  and  regarding  the  soldiers  with  an 
air  of  resolution  which  almost  daunted  them,  bade  them  do 
their  office  and  take  what  they  wanted.  They  struck  off  his 
head  and  hands,  and  C  Popillius  Laenas  the  tribune,  who 
commanded  the  party,  a  man  whom  Cicero  had  formerly  de- 
fended on  a  capital  charge,  took  them  and  carried  them  to 
Antonius.  The  triumvir  was  sitting  in  the  Forum  when  he 
arrived ;  Laenas  held  up  the  bloody  spoils  when  he  came  in 
sight,  and  he  forthwith  received  the  honor  of  a  crown  and  a 
large  sum  of  money.  The  head  and  hands  were  placed  on 
the  Rostra,  where  the  sight  of  them  drew  tears  from  many  an 
eye,  and  awoke  many  a  sigh  in  the  bosoms  of  those  who 
called  to  mind  the  eloquence  with  which  he  bad  so  often  from 
that  place  defended  the  laws  and  liberties  of  his  country. 
Such  was  the  end,  in  the  sixty-fourth  year  of  his  age,  of 
the  greatest  orator,  the  most  accomplished  writer  that  Rome 
ever  possessed.  In  his  private  character  Cicero  was  every 
way  amiable,  and  a  just  and  benevolent  spirit  pervades  all 
his  writings ;  as  a  magistrate,  whether  at  Rome  or  in  the 
provinces,  few  were  so  upright  or  incorruptible;  it  is  only  his 
political  character  that  is  stained  with  blemishes.  His  vanity 
was  insatiable,  and  any  one  who  would  minister  to  it  could 
wield  him  at  his  pleasure;  he  had  a  cowardly  dread  of  the  ills 
of  life,  and  lost  all  sense  of  dignity  in  his  anxiety  to  escape 
tbem.t  He  wanted  that  firmness,  that  fixedness  of  purpose, 
without  which  no  statesman  can  be  great ;  he  was  ever  vacil- 
lating, and  to  gratify  his  ambition,  which  was  inordinate,  he 
could  even  be  base.|     Though  Caesar  had  caused  his  banish- 

*  Liv.  in  Senec.  Suasor. 

t  "  We  have  too  great  a  dread,"  says  Brutus,  "  of  death,  of  exile,  and 
of  poverty.  These  Cicero  looks  upon  as  the  chief  ills  of  life;  and  as 
long  as  he  can  find  people  who  will  grant  him  what  he  desires,  who 
will  respect  and  applaud  hirp,  he  has  no  objection  to  slavery,  provided 
it  be  an  honorable  one." 

t  One  could  hardly  believe,  had  we  not  his  own  words  for  it,  (Ad 
Att.  i,  2,)  that  he  had  thoughts  of  defending  Catilina,  though  he  knew 


DEATH    AND    CHARACTER    OF    CICERO.  457 

ment  he  sought  arid  obtained  favors  from  him ;  he  flattered 
him  grossly  when  in  power,  and  yet  he  exulted  at  and  applaud- 
ed his  assassination.  Cicero's  patriotism  had  not  the  moral 
purity  of  that  of  Demosthenes ;  we  could  believe  that  the  lat- 
ter, provided  he  saw  Athens  great  and  flourishing,  would  have 
been  content  to  have  been  one  of  her  humblest  citizens ;  to 
Cicero  the  republic  was  nothing  if  he  was  not  the  leading 
man  in  it,  its  animating  spirit.  To  speak  thus  hardly  of  so 
great,  so  generally  excellent  a  man  is  painful  to  us,  but  our 
regard  for  truth  will  not  allow  us  to  join  in  the  unqualified 
eulogies  which  have  been  lavished  on  his  memory. 

Numbers  of  the  proscribed  made  their  escape  to  Pompeius 
or  to  Brutus.  Even  Antonius  showed  some  mercy;  when 
Cicero's  head  was  brought  to  him,  he  declared  the  proscrip- 
tion on  his  part  at  an  end;  he  let  his  uncle  escape,  and  he 
erased  from  the  list  the  names  of  the  learned  Varro,  and  of 
Cicero's  friend  T.  Pomponius  AtticUs,  and  some  others;  we 
are  however  assured  that  he  and  his  spouse  Fulvia  set  in  gen- 
eral but  little  bounds  to  their  appetite  for  blood  and  plunder. 
Lepidus  saved  his  brother.  Caesar,  whom  as  having  few  per- 
sonal enemies  we  should  have  expected  to  have  been  the  most 
moderate,  is  said  to  have  acted  with  more  cruelty  than  his 
colleagues ;  but  he  was  not  actuated  by  revenge  or  the  love  of 
rapine,  he  went  on  the  cool,  deliberate  principle  of  extermina- 
ting the  aristocracy,  and  thus  making  room  for  his  own  pow- 
er. When  at  the  end  of  the  proscription  Lepidus  made  in 
the  senate  a  sort  of  apology  for  it,  and  held  forth  hopes  of 
clemency  in  future,  Caesar  declared  that  he  would  not  bind 
himself,  but  would  still  reserve  the  power  of  proscribing.* 

The  triumvirs  having  satiated  their  vengeance  next  thought 
of  raising  money  for  the  war.  They  had  recourse  to  all 
modes  of  extortion  ;  they  seized  the  treasures  in  the  charge  of 
the  Vestals ;  they  laid  a  heavy  tax  on  four  hundred  women  of 
fortune,  and  then  on  all  the  citizens  who  had  above  a  certain 
property.  They  appointed  the  magistrates  for  several  years 
to  come;  and  having  made  Lepidus  and  Plancus  consuls, 
Caesar  and  Antonius  put  themselves  at  the  head  of  their  army 
and  crossed  over  to  Epirus. 

We  must  now  follow  Brutus  and  Cassius.     After  their  de- 


his  character,  and  that  his  guilt  was  as  clear  as  the  sun  at  noon  day,  in 
the  hopes  of  that  villain  joining  forces  with  him  in  their  joint  suit  for 
the  consulate. 

*  Sueton.  Octav.  27. 

39  FFP 


458  HISTORY    OF    ROME. 

parture  from  Italy  they  went  first  to  Athens,  where  they  were 
received  with  great  honors,  and  the  vainglorious  people 
decreed  them  statues  to  stand  beside  those  of  Harmodius 
and  Aristogiton,  the  fancied  founders  of  Athenian  freedom. 
Brutus  collected  all  the  troops  he  could;*  the  three  legions 
commanded  by  P.  Vatinius  went  over  to  him;  Q,.  Hortensius 
the  propraetor  of  Macedonia,  delivered  it  up  to  him,  and  when 
C.  Antonius,  whom  his  brother  had  appointed  to  it,  came  out, 
he  was  defeated  and  made  a  prisoner;  and  Brutus  thus  re- 
mained master  of  Greece,  Macedonia,  and  lUyricum. 

Cassius  proceeded  to  Syria.  Dolabella,  for  whom  his 
colleague  Antonius  had  obtained  that  government,  had  on 
his  way  through  Asia  treacherously  seized  and  put  to  death 
with  torture  Trebonius,  one  of  the  conspirators,  the  governor, 
of  that  province;  for  this  the  senate  had  declared  him  a  public 
enemy;  but  while  they  were  deliberating  whom  to  send 
against  him,  Cassius  went  to  Syria,  where  all  the  troops 
declared  for  him ;  and  Dolabella  being  besieged  in  Laodicea 
put  an  end  to  himself  Being  now  at  the  head  often  legions, 
Cassius  was  preparing  to  invade  Egypt,  when  he  was  sum- 
moned by  Brutus  to  come  to  his  aid  against  Antonius  and 
Caesar.  They  met  at  Smyrna,  and  Cassius  being  of  opinion 
that  they  should  first  reduce  the  Rhodians  and  Lycians,  who 
had  refused  to  pay  contributions,  he  hiniself  attacked  and 
plundered  the  former,  while  Brutus  turned  his  arms  against 
the  latter,  whose  town  of  Xanthus  he  took  and  burned,  after 
slaughtering  the  men,  women,  and  children  without  distinc- 
tion. Having  levied  contributions  in  all  quarters,  they  met 
at  Sardes,  and  thence  crossed  over  to  the  Chersonese.t  As 
P.  Decidius  Saxa  and  C.  Junius  Norbanus,  whom  the  trium- 
virs had  sent  forward  with  eight  legions,  occupied  the  pass 
leading  into  Macedonia,  Brutus  and  Cassius  sent  a  detach- 
ment, under  the  guidance  of  a  Thracian  prince,  by  a  circui- 
tous route  through  the  mountains ;  at  the  sight  of  which  the 
triumvirs'  legates  fell  back  to  Amphipolis,  and  the  republican 
generals  then  came  and  encamped  on  an  eminence  near  the 
town  of  Philippi. 

*  Cicero's  son  and  the  poet  Horace,  who  were  studying"  at  Athens, 
took  arms  on  thi^s  occasion  and  received  commands  from  Brutus, 
f  It  is  said  that  at  this  time,  as  Brutus  was  sitting  up  late  one  night 


reading  in  his  tent,  he  beheld  a  strange  and  terrific  figure  standing  by 

He  asked  who  he  was,  and  why  " 
plied,  "  I  am  thy  evil  genius;  thou  wilt  see  me  at  Philippi !  "     "I  shall 


him.     He  asked  who  he  was,  and  why  he  was  come ;  the  phantom  re- 


see  thee  then,"  said  Brutus,  and  the  figure  vanished.     This  may  be 
fiction,  but  it  is  such  a  trick  as  fancy  might  have  played. 


BATTLE    OF    PHILIPPI.  459 

Antotiius,  who  was  an  active  general  when  he  chose  to 
rouse  himself,  made  all  haste  to  save  his  legates,  and  on.  his 
arrival  he  encamped  within  a  mile  of  the  enemy.  He  was 
joined  in  a  few  days  by  Cagsar,  and  their  united  force  was 
nineteen  legions  and  thirteen  thousand  Horse ;  the  other  a,rmy 
had  the  same  number  of  legions  and  twenty  thousand  horse  ; 
Antonius,  as  his  army,  being  excluded  from  the  sea,  was  in 
want  of  provisions,  sought  to  bring  on  an  action,  which  Cas- 
sius,  aware  of  his  motive,  steadily  refused.  At  length  how- 
ever the  impatience  of  his  troops,  or,  as  some  say,  of  his 
officers  and  his  colleague,  obliged  him  to  consent  to  give  bat- 
tle. As  Caesar  was  unwell,  Antonius  had  the  sole  command  of 
the  other  army,  and  he  defeated  the  troops  of  Cassius  which 
were  opposed  to  him  and  took  their  camp ;  but  on  the  other 
side,  Caesar's  troops  were  routed  by  those  of  Brutus,  and  their 
camp  was  taken.  Cassius  having  vainly  tried  to  rally  his 
men  retired  to  an  eminence,  and  seeing  a  body  of  horse 
coming  toward  him  he  sent  one  of  his  friends,  named  Titin- 
ius,  to  know  who  they  were.  As  they  were  part  of  Brutus' 
troops  they  received  Titinius  joyfully,  and  taking  him  among 
them  still  advanced.  Cassius,  whose  sight  was  imperfect, 
became  convinced  that  they  were  enemies,  and  crying  out 
that  he  had  caused  the  capture  of  his  friend,  withdi-ew  into  a 
lonely  hut  and  made  a  faithful  freedman  strike  off  his  head. 
Titinius  slew  himself  when  he  heard  of  his  death,  and  Brutus 
on  coming  to  the  place  wept  over  him,  calling  him  the  last  of 
the  Romans  :  lest  his  funeral  should  dispirit  the  soldiers,  he 
sent  his  body  over  to  the  adjacent  isle  of  Thasos.  He  then 
assembled  and  encouraged  his  troops,  promising  them  a  do- 
nation of  2000  drachmas  a  man. 

The  loss  on  the  side  of  the  republicans  had  been  eight 
thousand  men,  while  that  of  the  triumvirs  was  double  the  num- 
ber ;  yet  Antonius,  as  his  troops  lay  in  a  wet  marshy  situation 
and  were  suffering  from  want  of  supplies,  still  offered  battle, 
which  Brutus,  whose  camp  was  well  supplied,  prudently  de- 
clined :  his  fleet  had  also  defeated  that  of  the  triumvirs,  but 
of  this  he  was  ignorant.  At  length,  urged  by  the  impatience 
of  his  soldiers  and  fearing  the  effect  of  dissensions  between 
his  own  men  and  those  of  Cassius,  he  led  them  out  after  a 
delay  of  twenty  days,  promising  them  the  plunder  of  two 
cities  if  they  were  victorious.  Both  sides  fought  with  des- 
peration, but  victory  finally  declared  for  the  triumvirs.  Bru- 
tus, having  crossed  a  stream  that  ran  through  a  glen,  retired 
for  the  night  to  the  shelter  of  a  roclr  with  a  few  of  hie  friends, 


460  HISTORY   OF    ROME. 

and  looking  up  at  the  sky,  now  full  of  stars,  he  repeated  two 
Greek  verses,  one  of  which,  from  the  Medea  of  Euripides, 
ran  thus :  * 

Zeus  !  may  the  cause  of  all  these  ills  escape  thee  not ! 

He  passed  the  night  in  enumerating  and  mourning  over  those 
who  had  fallen:  Toward  morning  he  whispered  his  servant 
Clitus,  who  wept  and  Was  silent;  he  then  drew  his  shield- 
bearer  aside ;  he  finally  besought  his  friend  Volumnius  to 
hold  his  sword  for  him  to  fall  on  it.  Being  refused  by  all, 
he  continued  to  discourse  with  them  some  time  longer,  and 
then  retired  with  his  friend  Strato  and  one  or  two  others  to 
a  little  distance ;  he  there  threw  himself  on  his  gword,  which 
Strato  held  for  him,  and  expired.  Antonius,  when  he  came 
to  where  the  body  of  Brutus  lay,  cast  a  purple  robe  over  it, 
and  he  sent  his  remains  to  his  mother  Servilia.t 

*  Zevy^ij  kuS^oi  at  Tc5r5'  o's  aXriog  xaxwv. 

Dion  Txlvii.  49)  and  Florus  (iv.  7)  say  that  he  repeated  these  verses 
from  tne  Hercules  of  the  same  poet : 

^i2  rXij^iov  aqerij,  Xoyoi  o^'  »}a^''  lyoi  di  at 
' Slg  tqyov  I'laxpvv  av  tj'  «§'  IdovXevBg  Tv^ri. 

"  O  wretched  virtue !  a  mere  word  thou  art,  but  I 
\        Practised  thee  as  a  real  thing,  while  thou  art  nought 
But  Fprtune's  slave." 

t  It  was  said  that  Brutus'  wife  Porcia,  when  she  heard  of  his  death, 
put  an  end  to  herself  by  swallowing  burning  coals,  —  a  thing  physically 
impossible.  She  might  have  smothered  herself  by  inhaling  the  fumes 
of  charcoal  ;  but  it  appears  from  the  letters  of  Brutus  and  his  friends 
that  she  had  died  of  disease  before  this  time. 

As  the  charge  of  avarice  is  the  greatest  stain  that  has  been  fixed  on 
the  character  of  Brutus,  we  will  here  relate  the  case  which  has  given 
occasion  to  it.  When  Cicero  was  going  out  as  governor  of  Cilicia, 
Brutus  strongly  recommended  to  him  two  persons  named  Scaptius  and 
Matinius,  to  whom  the  people  of  Salamis  in  Cyprus  owed  a  large  sum 
of  money.  Cicero's  pl-edecessor,  Ap.  Claudius,  who  was  Brutus'  father- 
in-law,  had  given  Scaptius  a  prefecture  in  Cyprus,  which  Brutus  wished 
Cicero  to  continue  him  in ;  but  Cicero,  who  had  laid  it  down  as  a  rule 
not  to  grant  these  commands  to  traders  and  usurers,  refused  ;  particu- 
larlv  as  he  knew  that  Scaptius  had  shut  up  the  senate  of  Salamis  in 
their  house  till  five  of  them  died  of  hunger.  Moreover  Scaptius  de- 
manded 48  per  cent.,  and  Cicero  in  his  edict  had  declared  that  he  would 
allow  of  no  more  than  12  per  cent,  on  any  bonds.  Brutus  and  Atticus 
both  wrote  repeatedly  to  Cicero  about  it,  and  the  former  at  length  con- 
fessed that  he  was  the  real  creditor  and  the  others  were  but  his  agents. 
To  Cicero's  honor  he  stood  firm,  and  _would  not  permit  such  robbery 
and  oppression  when  he  could  prevent  it.  This  affair  is  but  one  proof 
among  many  of  the  manner  in  which  the  Roman  nobles  oppressed  the 
provincials. 


ANTONIUS    IN    ASIA.  461 

All  who  had  been  epncerned  in  the  death  of  Caesar  fol- 
lowed the  example  of  Brutus ;  others  made  their  escape  to 
Thasos.  M.  Valerius  Messala  and  Bibulus  having  collected 
about  fourteen  thousand  men,  sent  to  offer  their  submission 
to  the  triumvirs.  The  victorious  generals  spent  some  days 
in  glutting  their  vengeance  and  extirpating  the  friends  of  in- 
dependence ;  and  we  are  assured  that  the  cool,  calculating 
Caesar  far  surpassed  the  brutal  Antonius  in  cruelty  and  inson 
lence.*  They  then  made  a  new  division  of  the  empire ;  An- 
tonius getting  all  the  provinces  of  the  East ;  Caesar  those  of 
the  west,  except  Africa,  which  was  left  to  Lepidus  :  Italy,  as 
their  common  country,  remained  unappropriated.  Having 
made  their  arrangements,  Antonius  proceeded  to  levy  money 
in  the  East  for  the  soldiers'  rewards,  while  Caesar  undertook 
to  put  them  in  possession  of  the  lands  promised  them  in  Italy. 

Antonius  went  first  to  Greece,  and  spent  some  time  at 
Athens,  where  he  amused  himself  attending  the  games  and 
the  disputes  of  the  philosophers,  and  having  himself  initiated 
in  the  Mysteries.  He  behaved  with  great  mildness  and  was 
very  liberal  to  the  city.  Leaving  L.  Censorinus  to  command 
in  Greece,  he  passed  with  his  army  of  eight  legions  and  ten 
th<)usand  horse  over  to  Asia,  where  he  disposed  of  public  and 
private  property  at  his  will ;  kings  waited  humbly  at  his  doors, 
queens  and  princesses  vied  in  offering  him  their  wealth  and  their 
charms.  He  exacted  from  the  unfortunate  people  the  enor- 
mous sum  of  200,000  talents,  most  part  of  which  he  squan- 
dered away  in  luxury.  Meeting  at  Ephesus  several  of  the 
friends  of  Brutus  and  Cassius,  he  granted  their  lives  to  all  but 
two;  he  acted  also  with  great  generosity  to  the  towns  which 
had  suffered  for  their  attachment  to  the  Caesarian  cause. 
From  Tarsus  in  Cilicia  he  sent  to  summon  Cleopatra  (who 
having  murdered  her  young  brother  was  now  sole  sovereign 
of  Egypt)  to  justify  herself  for  not  having  been  more  active 
in  the  cause  of  the  triumvirs.  She  came,  relying  on  her 
charms.  At  the  mouth  of  the  Cydnus  she  entered  a  barge, 
whose  poop  was  adorned  with  gold  and  whose  sails  were  of 
purple ;  the  oars,  set  with  silver,  moved  in  accordance  with 
the  sound  of  flutes  and  lyres.  The  queen  herself,  attired  as 
Venus,  lay  reclined  beneath  the  shade  of  a  gold-embroidered 
umbrella,  fanned  by  boys  resembling  Loves ;  while  her  fe- 
male attendants,  habited  as  Nereides  and  Graces,  leaned 
against  the  shrouds  and  sides  of  the  vessel ;  and  costly  spices 

*  Suet.  Octwr.  13. 


462 


HISTORY   OF    ROME. 


and  perfumes,  as  they  burned  before  her,  filled  the  surround-t 
ing  air  with  their  fragrance.  All  the  people  of  the  city 
crowded  to  behold  this  novel  sight,  and  Antonius  was  left 
sitting  alone  on  his  tribunal  in  the  market.  He  sent  to 
invite  the  fair  queen  to  supper,  but  she  required  that  he 
should  come  and  sup  with  her.  Antonius  could  not  refuse; 
the  elegance  and  variety  of  the  banquet  amazed  him  :  next 
day  he  tried,  but  in  vain,  to  surpass  it.  The  guileful  en- 
chantress cast  her  spell  over  him  and  twined  herself  round 
his  heart.  Cruel  as  fair,  she  obtained  from  him  an  order  to 
drag  her  sister  Arsinoe  from  the  sanctuary  at  Ephesus,  and 
put  her  to  death.  Her  general  Serapion,  and  an  impostor 
who  personated  her  elder  brother,  were  likewise  torn  from 
sanctuaries  and  given  up  to  her  vengeance,  and  she  then  set 
out  on  her  return  to  Egypt.  Antonius,  unable  to  live  with- 
out her,  gave  up  all  his  previous  thoughts  of  war  on  the 
Parthians,  and  putting  his  troops  into  winter  quarters,  has- 
tened to  follow  her  and  abandoned  himself  wholly  to  luxury 
and  enjoyment  in  her  society. 

Meantime  Caesar  came  to  Rome,  (711,)  and  set  about  giv- 
ing his  soldiers  their  promised  rewards;  a  task  of  no  small 
difficulty  and  danger,  for  they  demanded  the  towns  which 
had  been  fixed  on  before  the  war,  while  the  people  of  these 
towns  required  that  the  loss  should  be  shared  by  all  Italy, 
and  that  those  who  were  deprived  of  their  lands  should  be 
paid  for  them.  Young  and  old,  men,  women,  and  children, 
they  repaired  to  Rome ;  they  filled  the  Forum  and  temples 
with  their  lamentations ;  and  the  people  there  sympathized 
with  their  grief  and  mourned  their  wrongs.*  CsEsar,  however, 
urging  the  tyrant's  plea  of  necessity,  went  on  distributing  lands 
to  his  soldiery ;  and  he  even  borrowed  money  from  the  tem- 
ples to  divide  among  them  for  the  purchase  of  stock  and 
farming  implements.  This  gained  him  additional  favor  with 
them,  which  was  increased  by  the  cries  and  reproaches  of 
those  whom  he  was  robbing  of  their  properties  for  them. 
Like  every  army  of  the  kind,  they  knew  their  power  over 
their  chief,  and  exercised  it  with  insolence,  as  the  following 
instances  will  show.  One  day,  when  Caesar  was  present  in 
the  theatre,  a  common  soldier  went  and  took  his  seat  among 
the  knights ;  the  people  murmured,  and  Caesar  had  him  re- 
moved.    The  soldiers  took  oflfence  at  this,  and  surrounding 

*  See  the  first  and  ninth  of  Vir^l's  eclogues  for  affecting  pictures 
of  the  evils  of  these  confiscations. 


cjisar's  distribution  of  lands.  463 

him  as  he  was  going  out.  of  the  theatre  demanded  their  com- 
rade's release  :  they  were  obeyed  ;  he  Came  ;  but  when  he  as- 
sured them  that  he  had  not  been  in  prison  as  they  supposed, 
they  reviled  him  as  a  liar  and  a  traitor  to  the  common  cause. 
Again,  Caesar  summoned  them  to  the  Field  of  Mars  for  a  di- 
vision of  lands.  In  their  eagerness  they  came  before  it  was 
day,  and  finding  that  he  delayed,  they  began  to  grow  angry. 
A  centurion  named  Nonius  reminded  them  of  their  duty  to 
their  general ;  they  laughed  and  jeered  at  him,  but  gradually 
they  grew  warm  and  abused  and  pelted  him ;  he  jumped  into 
the  river  to  escape,  but  they  dragged  him  out  and  killed  him  : 
they  then  laid  the  body  where  Caesar  was  to  pass.  When  he 
came  he  took  but  little  notice  of  it,  affecting  to  regard  the 
crime  as  the  deed  of  a  few,  and  merely  advised  them  to  be 
more  sparing  of  one  another  in  future;  he  then  proceeded 
to  distribute  the  land,  to  which  he  added  gifts  to  both  the  de- 
serving and  the  undeserving.  The  soldiers  were  touched; 
they  bade  him  to  search  out  and  punish  the  murderers.  He 
said,  *'  I  know  them ;  but  I  will  leave  their  punishment 
to  their  own  consciences  and  to  your  disapprobation."  A 
shout  of  joy  was  raised  at  these  words.  How  different  from 
the  conduct  of  the  old  dictators  and  consuls,  and  their 
armies,  when  Rome  had  a  constitution  and  freedom,  and  her 
troops  served  from  duty  and  not  for  plunder,  like  these  hordes 
of  bandits  who  raised  their  leaders  to  empire  over  their  fellow- 
citizens! 

Caesar's  situation  was  at  this  time  rather  precarious.  Sex. 
Pompeius  was  powerful  at  sea,  Cn.  Domitius  was  also  at  the 
head  of  a  large  fleet  in  the  Adriatic,  and  they  cut  off  the 
supplies  of  corn  from  Italy,  where  tillage  was  now  neglected 
and  discontent  was  general ;  for  the  soldiers,  not  satisfied 
with  what  had  been  given  them,  seized  on  such  pieces  of  land 
as  took  their  fancy,  and  Csesar  did  not  dare  to  check  them. 
Antonius'  wife  Fulvia,  and  his  brother  Lucius,  who  was  now 
consul,  resolved  to  take  advantage  of  this  state  of  things. 
They  promised  to  protect  those  who  had  been  deprived  of  their 
lands,  and  declared  that  the  properties  of  the  proscribed  and 
the  money  raised  by  Antonius  in  Asia  were  quite  sufficient 
for  paying  the  soldiers  what  had  been  promised  them ;  and 
they  gave  out  that  Antonius  was  willing  to  lay  down  his 
power  and  restore  the  constitution.  They  required  CfEsar  at 
any  rate  to  be  content  with  providing  for  his  own  legions, 
and  to  leave  those  of  Antonius  to  them ;  but  Caesar,  whose 
object  was  to  attach  the  soldiery  to  himself,  declined  this,  al- 


464  HISTORY   OP   ROME. 

leging  his  agreement  with  Antonius  ;  aware  however  of  the 
affection  of  the  army  for  Antonius,  and  of  the  present  enmity 
of  the  people  of  Italy  to  himself,  he  agreed  to  the  terms  which 
a  congress  of  the  officers  of  Antonius'  party  proposed  for 
ending  the  differences.  He  did  not  however  execute  them, 
and  L.  Antonius  and  Fulvia,  affecting  to  fear  for  their  lives, 
retired  to  Prajneste,  and  sent  to  inform  M.  Antonius  of  the 
state  of  affairs.  After  another  vain  attempt  at  reconciliation 
both  sides  began  to  prepare  for  war. 

The  good  wishes,  and  in  some  cases  the  means  and  arms 
of  the  people  of  Italy  were  with  L.  Antonius ;  the  remains  of 
the  Pompeian  and  republican  parties  joined  him  in  the  hope 
of  restoring  the  republic,  and  his  brother's  legions  and  colo- 
nies supported  him;  but  most  of  the  veterans  regarding 
Caesar's  cause  as  their  own  were  zealous  in  his  favor.  An- 
tonius' generals  PoUio,  Ventidius,  and  Plancus  do  not  seem 
to  have  exerted  themselves  as  they  ought,  and  L.  Antonius, 
being  obliged  to  throw  himself  into  the  town  of  Perusia, 
(Perugia,)  was  there  besieged  by  Caesar.  After  a  gallant  de- 
fence, famine  compelled  him  to  surrender,  (712.)  Caesar 
granted  him  and  his  soldiers  favorable  terms,  but  for  the 
Roman  senators  and  knights,  the  remnant  of  the  Pompeian 
or  republican  party  who  were  in  it,  he  had  no  mercy.  "  Thou 
must  die,"  was  his  laconic,  ruthless  reply  to  every  one  who 
sued  for  mercy  or  sought  to  excuse  himself  Nay,  it  is  even 
said,  that  he  reserved  three  hundred  captives  of  rank  to  sac- 
rifice to  the  manes  of  the  dictator  on  the  following  ides  of 
March.*  The  town  of  Perusia  was  destined  to  be  plundered, 
but  one  of  its  citizens  having  set  fire  to  his  house  the  whole 
city  was  consumed. 

This  last  effort  of  the  republican  party  crushed  their  hopes 
forever,  and  it  threw  several  more  properties  for  confiscation 
into  Caesar's  hands ;  some  indeed  were  of  opinion  that  it  was 
with  a  view  to  this  that  he  had  kindled  the  war.f  Several 
persons,  among  whom  was  Julia  the  mother  of  the  Antonii, 
thought  refuge  with  Sex.  Pompeius.  Fulvia  with  her  children 
and  Plancus  fled  to  Greece. 

M.  Antonius  was  preparing  to  march  against  the  Parthians, 
who  had  invaded  Syria  and  taken  and  plundered  Jerusalem, 
when  he  heard  of  the  late  events  in  Italy.  He  assembled  two 
hundred  ships  and  a  large  army  and  sailed  to  Athens,  where 
he  met  Fulvia,  whom  he  blamed  much  for  her  recent  conduct ; 

*  Sueton.  Octav.  15.  t  Id.  lb. 


RETURN    OF    ANTONIUS    TO    ITALY.  465 

and  leaving  her  sick  at  Sicyon,  where  she  died  soon  after,  he 
proceeded  toward  Italy.  Domitius  joined  him  with  his  fleet, 
and  Sex.  Pompeius  (though  Caesar  in  the  hopes  of  gaining  him 
to  his  side  had  lately  married  Scribonia,  the  sister  of  his 
father-in-law  Libo,  a  woman  many  years  older  than  himself*) 
preferring  an  alliance  with  Antonius,  sen,t  his  mother  Julia 
to  him,  and  a  kind  of  treaty  was  concluded  between  them. 
When  Antonius  came  before  Brundisium  he  was  refused  ad- 
mittance ;  he  then  blockaded  the  port,  and  sent  calling  on  Pom- 
peius to  invade  Italy.  Caesar  came  to  the  relief  of  Brundisium ; 
but  his  soldiers  were  unwilling  to  fight  against  Antonius, 
and  the  two  armies  sought  to  reconcile  their  leaders.  C.  Asin- 
ius  Pollio  and  C.  Cilnius  Maecenas  on  the  parts  of  Antoniug 
and  Caesar,  and  M.  Cocceius  N6rva  a  common  friend,  came,t 
and,  having  conferred  together,  settled  the  terms  of  agree- 
ment. All  past  offences  were  to  be  forgotten  ;  Antonius,  who 
was  now  a  widower,  was  to  espouse  Csesar's  half-sister  Oc- 
tavia,  a  lady  of  great  beauty,  sense  and  virtue;  and  the  divis- 
ion of  the  empire  was  to  remain  nearly  as  before. | 

Antonius  sent  Ventidius  to  conduct  the  Parthian  war, 
while  he  himself  remained  in  Italy.  The  chief  object  now 
was  to  come  to  some  arrangement  with  Sex.  Pompeius,  who 
was  actually  starving  Rome,  by  cutting  off  the  supplies  of 
corn.  Caesar,  who  was  personally  hostile  to  him,  would  not 
hear  of  accommodation  till  one  day  he  was  near  being  stoned 
by  the  famishing  multitude.  This  operated  on  his  cautious, 
timid  nature,  and  the  two  triumvirs  had  an  interview  with 
Pompeius  at  Cape  Misenum,  but  his  demands  were  so  high 
that  nothing  could  be  arranged.  The  increasing  distress 
obliged  them  to  have  another  meeting,  and  it  was  agreed 
(713)  that  Pompeius  should  possess  the  islands  and  Pelopon- 
nesus, be  chosen  augur,  be  allowed  to  stand  for  the  consulate 
in  his  absence,  and  to  discharge  its  duties  by  deputy,  and  be 
paid  70,000,000  sesterces;  that  all  who  had  sought  refuge 
with  him  out  of  fear  should  be  restored  to  their  estates  and 
rights,  and  all  the  proscribed  (except  the  actual  assassins) 
have  liberty  to  return  and  get  back  a  fourth  of  their  estates. 

*  Caesar,  on  the  rupture  with  Fulvia,  sent  her  back  her  daughter 
Clodia,  having  never  consummated  his  marriage. 

t  Horace  (Sat.  I.  v.)  has  given  a  very  agreeable  description  of  the 
journey  of  Maecenas,  whom  he  accompanied  from  Rome  to  Brundisium 
on  this  occasion. 

t  The  blessings  which  were  to  result  from  this  peace  are,  as  Voss 
has  proved,  the  theme  of  Virgil's  fourth  eclogue. 

GGG 


466  HISTORY   OF    ROME. 

On  his  part  he  was  to  allow  the  sea  to  be  free,  and  to  pay  up  the 
arrears  of  corn  due  from  Sicily.  When  the  peace  was  con- 
cluded the  chiefs  entertained  each  other ;  Pompeius  gave  his 
dinner  on  board  his  ship.  At  the  feast,  Men  as,  one  of  his 
officers,  whispered  him,  saying,  "  Let  me  now  cut  the  cables, 
and  you  are  master  of  Rome."  Pompeius  pondered  a  mo- 
ment :  **  You  should  have  done  it,"  said  he,  "  without  telling 
me;  I  cannot  perjure  myself"  Having  been  entertained  in 
return  he  set  sail  for  Sicily,  and  Caesar  and  Antonius  went 
back  to  Rome;  the  latter  soon  after  set  out  for  Athens, 
where  he  spent  the  rest  of  the  year. 

The  following  year  (714)  Ventidius,  who  had  been  suc- 
cessful against  the  Parthians,  defeated  and  killed  their  brave 
young  prince  Pacorus,  for  which  Antonius  allowed  him  to 
have  the  honor  of  a  triumph.*  In  this  year  also  the  war  was 
renewed  between  Caesar  and  Pompeius :  and  Menas,  the 
admiral  of  the  latter,  having  deserted  to  Caesar,  put  him  in 
possession  of  Sardinia  and  Corsica.  Caesar  assailed  Sicily 
with  two  separate  fleets,  but  both  were  destroyed  by  Pom- 
peius; and  Caesar  himself,  who  was  on  board  of  one  of  them, 
narrowly  escaped  being  taken  or  drowned.  The  triumvirs 
now  of  themselves  renewed  their  office  for  another  five  years, 
disdaining  to  consult  the  senate  or  people.  The  whole  of 
the  succeeding  year  (715)  was  devoted  by  Caesar  to  the  prep- 
arations against  Pompeius,  and  a  large  fleet  was  built  under 
the  superintendence  of  the  consul,  M.  Vipsanius  Agrippa,  a 
man  of  humble  birth,  but  of  great  civil  and  military  talents, 
and  wholly  devoted  to  the  service  of  Caesar.f 

Early  in  the  following  year  (716)  when  Caesar  was  pre- 
paring to  act  against  Pompeius,  Antonius  came  with  three 
hundred  ships  to  Brundisium,  under  the  pretext  of  assisting 
him,  but  in  reality  with  other  views.  Being  refused  admit- 
tance he  sailed  to  Tarentum,  whence  Octavia  went  to  her 
brother,  and  by  her  influence  with  his  friends  Agrippa  and 
Maecenas,  prevailed  on  him  to  agree  to  a  meeting  with  An- 
tonius. The  cautious  Caesar  appointed  a  place  where  there 
would  be  a  river  between  them,  but  when  they  came  to  it, 

*  Ventidius,  who  was  the  son  of  the  general  of  the  same  name  in 
the  Marsic  war,  had  himself  adorned  as  a  captive  the  triumph  of 
Pompeius  Strabo  at  the  end  of  that  war. 

t  At  this  time  the  celebrated  Julian  Port  was  made,  by  running  a 
strong  mole  between  the  Lucrine  lake  and  the  sea,  with  two  passages  in 
it  for  ships,  and  cutting  a  ship-canal  from  that  lake  to  lake  Avernus. 
See  Virg.  Geor.  ii.  161.     Horace,  De  Art.  Poet.  63. 


WAR    WITH    SEX.    POMPEIUS.  467 

Antonius,  more  brave  and  more  generous,  jumped  into  a 
boat  to  cross  over ;  Caesar  then,  assuming  the  virtue  he  had 
not,  did  the  same  ;  they  met  in  the  middle,  and  then  dis- 
puting which  should  pass  over,  Caesar  prevailed,  as  he  said 
he  would  go  to  Tarentum  to  visit  his  sister.  They  soon 
arranged  all  matters  :  Antonius  lent  Caesar  one  hundred  and 
twenty  ships,  and  received  in  return  twenty  thousand  soldiers 
for  his  Parthian  war,  and  he  then  set  out  for  the  East,  leav- 
ing Octavia  in  Italy. 

Caesar,  having  every  thing  now  prepared,  resolved  to  make 
three  simultaneous  attacks  on  Sicily.  Lepidus  was  to  invade 
it  from  Africa,  Statilius  Taurus  with  the  ships  of  Antonius 
from  Tarentum,  Caesar  himself  and  Agrippa  from  the  Julian 
Port.  Lepidus  alone  eJETected  a  landing ;  the  other  two  fleets 
were  shattered  by  a  tempest.  Pompeius,  affecting  to  view 
the  peculiar  favor  of  the  sea-god  in  this  destruction  of  the 
hostile  fleet  by  a  summer-tempest,  sacrificed  to  Neptune  and 
the  Sea,  (Amphitrite,)  styled  himself  their  son,  and  changed 
the  color  of  his  robe  from  purple  to  dark-blue,  {ccBrukus.) 
Caesar  declared  that  he  would  conquer  in  spite  of  Neptune, 
and  forbade  the  image  of  that  god  to  be  carried  at  the  next 
Circensian  games.* 

Lepidus  had  with  him  twelve  legions  and  five  thousand 
Numidian  horse ;  he  sent  orders  to  his  remaining  four  le- 
gions to  come  and  join  him,  but  they  were  met  on  the  pas- 
sage by  Papias,  one  of  Pompeius'  commanders,  and  two  of 
them  destroyed  ;  the  other  two  found  means  to  join  him 
some  time  after.  Caesar's  fleet  having  passed  over  to  the 
Liparaean  isles  sailed  thence  under  the  command  of  Agrippa, 
and  engaged  that  of  Pompeius  led  by  his  admirals  Papias, 
Menecrates,  and  Apollophanes,  oflT  Mylae.  Caesar's  ships 
were  larger,  those  of  Pompeius  lighter  and  more  active  ;  the 
former  had  the  better  soldiers,  the  latter  the  better  sailors, 
but  Agrippa  had  invented  grappling  implements,  somewhat 
like  the  old  ravens.  The  fight  was  long  and  obstinate ;  at 
length  the  Pompeians  fled  with  the  loss  of  thirty  vessels. 
Agrippa  sailed  thence  and  made  an  ineffectual  attempt  on 
the  town  of  Tyndaris. 

Caesar  had  gone  to  Taurus'  camp  at  Scylaceum,  intending 
to  pass  over  in  the  night  from  Rhegium  to  Sicily ;  but  he 
took  courage  when  he  heard  of  Agrippa's  success,  and  hav- 
ing first  prudently  ascended  a  lofty  hill  to  assure  himself  that 

*  Suet.  Octav.  16. 


468  HISTORY    OF   ROME. 

no  enemy  was  in  sight,  he  went  on  board  with  what  troops 
his  ships  could  carry,  leaving  the  rest  with  Messala  till  he 
could  send  the  ships  back  for  them.  Being  refused  admit- 
tance into  Taurominium  he  sailed  further  on,  and  landing, 
began  to  encamp,  hut  suddenly  Pompeius  was  seen  coming 
with  a  large  fleet,  and  bodies  of  horse  and  foot  appeared  on 
all  sides.  Had  Pompeius  now  made  a  general  attack  he 
might  have  gained  a  complete  victory,  but  as  it  was  evening 
he  did  not  wish  to  engage,  and  his  cavalry  alone  assailed  the 
enemy.  During  the  night  the  Caesarians  fortified  their  camp, 
and  Caesar  leaving  the  command  with  L.  Cornificius,  and  de- 
siring him  to  hold  out  to  the  last,  embarked  to  return  to  Italy 
for  succors;  his  vessel  being  hotly  pursued  he  was  obliged 
to  get  into  a  small  boat  to  save  himself,  and  he  escaped  with 
difficulty.  Pompeius  next  day  fell  on  and  destroyed  the  whole 
Caesarian  fleet,  and  Cornificius  soon  began  to  be  in  want 
of  provisions ;  having  vainly  offered  the  enemy  battle  he  re- 
solved to  abandon  his  camp  and  march  for  Mylae,  and  though 
harassed  by  the  enemy's  horse  and  light  troops,  and  suffer- 
ing from  heat,  thirst,  and  fatigue  during  five  days,  his  troops 
effected  their  retreat.  Agrippa  had  now  taken  Tyndaris, 
whither  Caesar  soon  transported  twenty-one  legions,  twenty 
thousand  horse  and  five  thousand  light  troops.  Lepidus 
moved  from  Lilybaeum,  and  their  united  forces  met  before  the 
walls  of  Messana.  Pompeius  seeing  no  hopes  but  in  a  gen- 
eral battle  sent  to  propose  a  combat  of  three  hundred  ships 
a-side,  and  Caesar,  jealous  of  Lepidus,  departed  from  his 
usual  caution  and  accepted  the  challenge.  The  victory  was 
complete  on  the  side  of  Caesar.  Pompeius'  land  army,  with 
the  exception  of  eight  legions  in  Messana,  surrendered,  and 
he.  himself,  with  his  seventeen  sole  remaining  ships  abandon- 
ing Sicily,  passed  over  to  Asia,  where  raising  a  new  war  he 
was  taken  and  put  to  death  by  P.  Titius,  one  of  Antonius' 
officers. 

Messana  soon  surrendered,  and  the  whole  island  sub- 
mitted; Caesar  then  proceeded  to  deprive  his  colleague 
Lepidus  of  his  office  and  power;  and  having  ascertained 
the  temper  of  his  officers  and  men,  he  ventured  to  enter  his 
camp  with  a  few  attendants.  Lepidus  being  deserted  by 
his  troops  was  forced  to  assume  the  garb  of  a  suppliant, 
and  throw  himself  at  the  feet  of  Caesar,  who,  never  wan- 
tonly cruel,  and  knowing  how  powerless  he  would  remain, 
raised  him,  granted  him  his  life,  and  allowed  him  to  pass 


PARTHIAN   WAR.  469 

the  rest  of  his  days  at  Circeii,  retaining  his  dignity  of  high 
priest. 

As  Caesar  was  preparing  to  return  to  Italy,  a  mutiny 
broke  out,  his  troops  demanding  their  discharge  and  re- 
wards equal  to  those  of  the  victors  at  Philippi.  He  threat- 
ened and  remonstrated  in  vain ;  when  he  promised  crowns 
and  purple  robes,  one  of  the  tribunes  cried  out  that  these 
were  only  fit  for  children,  but  that  soldiers  required  money 
and  lands.  The  soldiers  loudly  applauded  ;  Caesar  left  the 
tribunal  in  a  rage;  the  tribune  was  extolled,  but  that  very 
night  he  disappeared,  and  was  heard  of  no  more.  As  the 
soldiers  still  continued  to  clamor  for  their  discharge,  Caesar 
dismissed  and  sent  out  of  the  island  those  who  had  served 
at  Mutina  and  Philippi.  He  then  praised  the  rest,  and 
gave  them  500  denars  a  man,  raised  by  a  tax  on  the  Sicil- 
ians. On  his  return  to  Rome  he  was  received  with  every 
demonstration  of  joy  by  the  senate  and  people ;  and  aware 
now  of  the  tyranny  which  the  army  would  exercise  over 
him  if  he  continued  to  depend  on  it,  he  sought  to  gain  the 
afFectioris  of  the  people  of  Rome  and  Italy.  It  was  prob- 
ably with  this  view  that  he  purchased  fairly  the  lands  which 
he  required  for  his  veterans. 
^y^  While  Caesar  was  thus  laying  the  foundation  of  his  future 
/^  empire,  Antonius  was  wasting  his  troops  and  his  fame  in 
an  inglorious  war  with  the  Parthians.  Under  pretence  of 
aiding  the  king  of  Armenia,  he  entered  that  country  with 
an  army  of  60,000  legionaries,  10,000  horse,  and  30,000 
auxiliary  light  troops ;  and  though  it  was  late  in  the  sum- 
mer, he  passed  the  Araxes,  and  leaving  his  artillery  on  the 
frontiers  under  the  guard  of  two  legions,  marched  against 
Praaspa,  the  capital  of  Media  Atropatenia.  But  the  kings 
of  Parthia  and  Media  cut  the  two  legions  to  pieces  and 
destroyed  the  machines,  and  then  came  to  the  relief  of 
Praaspa,  where  they  so  harassed  the  Romans  by  cutting  off 
their  supplies  that  Antonius  was  obliged  to  commence  a 
retreat.  Led  by  a  faithful  guide  he  kept  to  the  mountains, 
followed  closely  by  the  Parthians ;  his  troops  suffered  se- 
verely from  famine  and  thirst;  but  at  length  they  reached 
and  got  over  the  Araxes,  having  in  the  retreat  sustained  a 
loss  of  20,000  foot  and  4000  horse.  Instead  of  wintering 
in  Armenia  he  set  out  for  Syria,  impatient  to  rejoin  Cleo- 
patra ;  in  the  march  to  which  he  lost  eight  thousand  more 
of  his  men.  The  queen  came  to  Berytus  to  meet  him,  and 
40 


470  HISTORY   OP    ROME. 

he  returned  with  her  to  Alexandria,  where  they  passed  the 
winter  in  feasting  and  revelry. 

In  the  year  718,  Antonius,  in  alliance  with  the  king  of 
the  Medes,  entered  Armenia,  and  by  treachery  made  its 
king  a  prisoner.  He  defeated  the  Armenians  when  they 
took  up  arms,  and  on  his  return  to  Alexandria  he  tri- 
umphed after  the  Roman  fashion,  —  a  thing  which  gave  the 
greatest  possible  offence  to  the  people  of  Rome  when  they 
heard  of  it.  The  next  year  (719)  he  marched  again  to  the 
Araxes,  and  concluded  an  alliance  offensive  and  defensive 
with  the  king  of  Media,  to  whom  he  gave  a  part  of  Arme- 
nia. On  his  return  to  Egypt  he  acted  with  the  greatest 
extravagance.  He  and  Cleopatra  sat  in  public  on  golden 
thrones,  the  one  attired  as  Bacchus,  the  other  as  Isis ;  *  he 
declared  her  his  lawful  wife,  and  queen  of  Egypt,  Libya, 
Cyprus,  and  Coele-Syria,  associating  with  her  Csesarion, 
her  son  by  Caesar,  and  giving  kingdoms  to  the  two  sons 
whom  she  had  borne  to  himself.  The  most  unbounded 
luxury  followed  this  degradation  of  the  majesty  of  Rome. 

When  Antonius  was  setting  out  on  his  second  expedition 
against  the  Parthians,  (719,)  Octavia  obtained  leave  from 
her  brother  to  go  and  join  him ;  but  Antonius,  urged  by 
Cleopatra,  sent  word  to  her  to  return  to  Italy.  Caesar, 
glad  perhaps  of  the  pretext  for  war,  laid  before  the  senate 
the  whole  of  Antonius'  conduct,  (720,)  who  in  revenge  sent 
Octavia  a  divorce ;  and,  after  various  insulting  messages 
and  letters  on  both  sides,  Antonius  directed  his  general 
P.  Canidius  to  march  sixteen  legions  to  Ephesus,  whither  he 
himself  soon  after  repaired  with  Cleopatra;  and  here  he 
was  joined  by  the  consuls  Cn.  Domitius  and  C.  Sosius,  and 
his  other  friends  who  had  come  from  Italy.  Domitius 
urged  him  in  vain  to  send  away  Cleopatra;  she  gained 
over  Canidius,  and  Antonius  was  unable  to  resist  their  joint 
arguments.  He  and  she  passed  over  to  Samos,  and  spent 
their  days  in  revelry,  while  the  kings  of  the  East  were  for- 
warding their  troops  and  stores  to  Ephesus.  From  Samos 
they  went  to  Athens,  where  they  passed  some  time. 

Caesar  meantime  was  making  his  preparations  in  Italy, 
for  which  purpose  he  was  obliged  to  lay  on  heavy  taxes. 
As  the  people  were  in  ill  humor  at  this,  he  sought  by  all 

*  At  one  of  these  banquets  Cleopatra  dissolved  and  drank  a  pearl  of 
great  price.    Pliny,  H.  N.,  ix.  35,  50. 


RUPTURE    BETWEEN    C^SAR   AND    ANTONIUS.         471 

means  to  render  Antonius  odious  and  contemptible  in  their 
eyes ;  and  Plancus,  who  deserted  to  him  at  this  time,  having 
informed  him  of  the  contents  of  Antonius'  will,  he  forced 
the  Vestals,  in  whose  custody  it  was,  to  give  it  up,  and  then 
most  basely  and  dishonorably  made  it  public.  He  had  a 
decree  passed  depriving  Antonius  of  the  triumvirate  and 
declaring  war  against  Cleopatra,  aifecting  to  believe  that  she, 
not  Antonius,  was  the  real  leader  of  the  hostile  forces. 

In  the  autumn  Antonius  sailed  to  Corcyra,  but  not  ven- 
turing to  pass  over  to  Italy,  he  retired  to  Peloponnesus  for 
the  winter. 

The  next  year  (721)  Antonius  occupied  the  bay  of  Am- 
bracia  with  his  fleet ;  that  of  Caesar  lay  at  Brundisium  and 
the  adjacent  ports,  whence  Agrippa  sailed  with  a  division 
and  took  the  town  of  Methone,  (Modon,)  and  seized  a  large 
convoy.  Caesar  then  embarked  his  army,  and  landing  at 
the  Ceraunian  mountains,  marched  and  encamped  on  the 
north  side  of  the  bay  of  Ambracia ;  the  army  of  Antonius 
was  on  the  south  side  ;  and  they  thus  lay  opposite  each 
other  for  some  months.  Meantime  Agrippa  took  Patrae, 
Corinth  and  some  other  towns  ;  and  Domitius  and  other 
leaders  deserted  to  Caesar. 

Antonius'  land  forces  amounted  to  100,000  foot  and 
12,000  horse,  besides  the  auxiliaries  ;  his  fleet  counted  500 
ships.  Caesar  had  80,000  foot,  12,000  horse,  and  250  ships ; 
his  troops  and  sailors  were  both  superior  to  those  of  his  op- 
ponent ;  his  ships,  though  smaller  in  size,  were  better  built 
and  better  manned.  The  great  question  with  Antonius 
was,  whether  he  should  risk  a  land  or  a  sea  battle.  Canid- 
ius  was  for  the  former,  Cleopatra  for  the  latter,  and  the 
queen  of  course  prevailed.  Antonius  selected  170  of  his 
best  ships,  which  were  all  he  could  fully  man,  and  burned 
the  rest ;  with  these  he  joined  Cleopatra's  60  vessels,  and 
he  put  20,000  soldiers  on  board.  On  the  2d  of  September 
he  drew  up  his  fleet  in  line  of  battle  before  the  mouth  of 
the  bay.  Caesar's  fleet,  led  by  Agrippa,  kept  about  a  mile 
out  to  sea;  the  two  land  armies,  the  one  from  the  cape  of 
Actium,  the  other  from  the  opposite  point,  stood  as  specta- 
tors of  the  combat.  Antonius  had  directed  his  officers  to 
keep  close  to  shore,  and  thus  render  the  agility  of  the  ene- 
my's vessels  of  no  avail  ;  but  when  about  noon  a  breeze 
sprang  up,  his  left  wing,  eager  to  engage,  began  to  advance. 
Agrippa  made  his  right  wing  fall  back,  to  draw  it  on ;  the 
engagement   soon   became   general  and   both  sides  fought 


472  HISTORY    OF    ROME. 

with  great  courage;  but  in  the  midst  of  the  action,  whether 
from  fear,  treachery,  or  a  conviction  that  the  battle  would 
be  lost,  Cleopatra,  followed  by  all  her  ships,  turned  and  fled 
for  Egypt  :  and  Antonius,  when  he  saw  her  going,  left  the 
battle  and  followed  after  her.  The  battle  still  lasted  till  five 
in  the  evening,  when  finding  themselves  abandoned  by  their 
leader,  the  naval  forces  accepted  the  offers  of  Caesar  and 
submitted  to  him.  The  land  army  refused  for  seven  days  ^o 
listen  to  his  solicitations ;  but  at  length,  being  deserted  by 
Canidius  and  their  other  leaders,  they  yielded  to  necessity 
and  submitted.  Caesar,  having  made  offerings  to  Apollo  of 
Actium,  sent  home  his  veterans  with  Agrippa ;  he  then  pro- 
ceeded to  Athens,  and  thence  to  Asia ;  but  he  was  o1?liged 
to  return  to  Italy  in  the  middle  of  the  winter,  on  a,ccount 
of  the  turbulence  of  the  veterans,  whom  Agrippa  could  not 
keep  in  order. 

When  Antonius  overtook  Cleopatra  he  went  on  board  of 
her  ship,  but  during  three  days  he  sat  in  silence,  refusing 
to  see  her.  At  Taenaron  in  Laconia  her  women  brought 
about  a  reconciliation,  and  Antonius  having  written  to 
Canidius  to  lead  the  army  to  Asia,  they  sailed  for  Egypt ; 
they  parted  on  the  confines  of  Cyrene,  but  when  Antonius 
found  that  the  governor  of  this  province  also  had  declared 
for  Caesar,  it  was  with  difficulty  that  his  friends  were  able 
to  keep  him  from  destroying  himself  They  brought  him 
to  Alexandria,  where  Cleopatra  was  busily  engaged  in  a 
new  project ;  she  had  had  some  of  her  ships  hauled  over 
the  Isthmus  of  Suez,  intending  to  fly  with  her  treasures  to 
some  unknown  region  ;  but  the  Arabs,  at  the  instance  of 
Didius,  who  commanded  for  Caesar  in  Syria,  burned  her 
vessels  and  thus  frustrated  her  design.  She  then  began  to 
put  her  kingdom  into  a  state  of  defence.  Nevertheless,  she, 
Antonius,  and  their  friends,  were  resolved  to  die;  mean- 
time they  spent  their  time  in  feasting  and  revelry. 

Caesar,  having  staid  but  twenty-seven  days  at  Rome,  re- 
turned (722)  to  Asia,  all  whose  kings  submitted  to  him. 
An  envoy  from  Antonius  and  Cleopatra  came  to  him  ;  the 
latter  resigning  her  crown,  and  only  asking  the  kingdom 
of  Egypt  for  her  children  ;  the  former  requesting  to  be  al- 
lowed to  live  as  a  private  man  at  Athens.  To  Antonius  he 
deigned  no  reply  ;  the  queen  was  assured  of  every  favor  if 
she  banished  or  put  him  to  death.  Meantime  he  himself  ad- 
vanced on  the  east  and  seized  Pelusium,  while  Cn.  Cornelius 
Gallus  made  himself  master  of  Peritonium  on  the  west  of 


DEATH    OF    ANTONIUS.  473 

Egypt.  Antonius  flew  to  oppose  this  last,  but  was  driven 
off  with  loss.  When  Caesar  drew  nigh  to  Alexandria,  An- 
tonius put  himself  at  the  head  of  his  troops  and  gave  him  a 
check  ;  and  emboldened  by  this  success  he  drew  out  his  army 
and  his  fleet  on  the  1st  of  August  for  a  general  engagement. 
His  fleet  was  seen  to  advance  in  good  order  till  it  met  that 
of  C®sar  ;  it  then  turned  round,  and  both  together  took  a 
station  before  the  port.  Antonius'  cavalry  seeing  this,  also 
went  over  to  Caesar  ;  his  infantry  was  then  forced  to  yield, 
and  he  himself  returned  in  a  rage  to  the  town,  crying  that 
Cleopatra  had  ruined  and  betrayed  him. 

The  queen  had  a  little  time  before  had  a  kind  of  sepul- 
chre built  near  the  temple  of  Isis,  in  which  she  placed  her 
jewels  and  other  valuables,  and  covered  them  with  combus- 
tibles, with  the  intention,  as  she  declared,  of  burning  them 
and  herself  if  driven  to  it.  The  knowledge  of  this  had 
caused  Caesar  to  send  her  various  assurances  of  his  respect 
and  his  kind  intentions.  She  now  shut  herself  up  in  the 
sepulchre,  and  caused  a  report  to  be  spread  of  her  death. 
This  event  revived  the  tenderness  of  Antonius  ;  he  resolved 
not  to  survive  her  ;  he  bade  his  faithful  freedman  Eros,  who 
had  engaged  by  oath  to  kill  him,  to  perform  his  promise. 
Eros  drew  his  sword,  but  plunged  it  into  his  own  body  and 
fell  dead  at  his  feet.  Antonius  then  drew  his  own  sword 
and  stabbed  himself  in  the  belly  ;  he  threw  himself  on  his 
bed,  where  he  lay  writhing,  vainly  calling  on  his  friends  to 
despatch  him.  Meantime  Cleopatra,  having  heard  what  had 
been  done,  sent  to  tell  him  she  was  alive,  and  to  request 
that  he  would  let  himself  be  carried  to  her ;  he  assented, 
and  as  she  would  not  have  the  door  of  her  retreat  opened, 
she  and  her  maids  drew  him  up  by  cords  at  a  window. 
She  laid  him  on  her  bed,  and  gave  way  to  the  most  vio- 
lent transports  of  grief:  Antonius  sought  to  console  her, 
begged  of  her  to  save  her  life  if  she  could  with  honor,  and 
among  Caesar's  friends  recommended  to  her  Proculeius.  He 
then  expired,  in  the  fifty-third  year  of  his  age. 

The  sword  with  which  Antonius  slew  himself  was  brought 
to  Caesar,  who,  it  is  said,  shed  tears  at  the  sight.  Anxious 
to  secure  Cleopatra  and  her  treasure,  he  sent  Proculeius  to 
her  :  she  refused  to  admit  him  ;  he  then  returned  to  Caesar, 
who  sent  back  Gallus  with  him  with  new  proposals;  and 
while  Gallus  was  talking  to  her  at  the  door,  Proculeius  and 
two  others  got  in  at  the  window  and  made  her  prisoner. 
Caesar,  when  he  entered  Alexandria,  had  her  treated  with  the 

40  *  H  H  H 


474  HISTORY    OF    ROME. 

Utmost  respect ;  and  he  allowed  her  to  solemnize  the  obse- 
quies of  Antonius,  which  she  performed  with  the  greatest 
magnificence. 

Caesar  soon  after  paid  her  a  visit  ;  she  received  him 
slightly  arrayed,  with  her  hair  in  disorder ;  her  eyes  were 
red  with  weeping,  and  her  voice  faint  and  tremulous.  She 
threw  herself  at  his  feet ;  he  raised  her,  and  sat  beside  her ; 
she  attempted  to  excuse  her  previous  conduct,  and  seemed 
as  if  she  wished  to  live.  Caesar  made  many  promises ;  it 
was  a  trial  of  skill  between  two  consummate  actors ;  the 
artful  queen  sought  to  catch  him  in  the  net  of  love  ;  the 
cold-blooded  Caesar  wished  to  make  her  live  to  grace  his 
triumph.  He  left  her,  certain  that  he  had  succeeded,  but 
he  was  deceived.  In  a  few  days  Cleopatra  learned  that  she 
and  her  children  were  to  be  sent  on  to  Syria  before  him  ; 
she  then  resolved  on  death,  and  having  obtained  permission 
to  visit  the  tomb  of  Antonius,  she  embraced  it  and  crowned 
it  with  flowers ;  and  then,  as  if  her  mourning  was  over, 
bathed  and  sat  down  richly  arrayed  to  a  splendid  banquet. 
While  she  was  at  table  a  peasant  came  with  a  basket  of  fine 
figs  ;  the  guards  suspecting  nothing  let  him  in.  The  queen 
took  the  basket,  aware  of  its  contents;  she  wrote  a  letter 
to  Caesar  requesting  to  be  buried  with  Antonius  ;  and  then, 
retaining  in  the  room  only  her  maids  Charmion  and  Iras, 
applied  to  her  arm  an  asp  which  had  been  concealed  among 
the  pretended  peasant's  figs.  When  those  whom  Caesar 
sent  to  prevent  her  death  arrived,  they  found  her  lying 
dead  on  her  bed,  Iras  also  dead  at  her  feet,  and  Charmion 
just  expiring  in  the  act  of  arranging  the  diadem  on  the  head 
of  her  mistress.  Caesar  gave  Cleopatra  and  her  faithful 
maids  a  magnificent  funeral,  and  buried  her  as  she  wished 
by  the  side  of  Antonius.  He  put  to  death  her  son  Caesa- 
rion  ;  her  two  other  sons  adorned  his  triumph. 

Cleopatra  died  in  the  thirty-ninth  year  of  her  age  ;  the 
last  of  the  Ptolemaean  family.  Her  influence  over  Caesar 
and  Antonius  testifies  for  her  beauty,  talents,  and  accom- 
plishments ;  but  she  was  utterly  devoid  of  principle,  and 
capable  of  committing  any  crime. 

Caesar  reduced  Egypt  to  the  form  of  a  province,  and  its 
wealth,  when  transported  to  Rome,  enabled  him  to  reward 
his  legions  without  the  odium  of  robbing  any  more  pro- 
prietors of  their  lands.  He  returned  to  Italy  the  following 
year,  (723,)  and  in  the  month  of  Sextilis  (August)  cele- 
brated three  triumphs  ;  he  then  closed  the  temple  of  Janus, 


SOLE    DOMINION    OF    CiESAR.  475 

which  had  stood  open  for  two  centuries.  The  senate  knew 
no  end  of  heaping  honors  on  him  ;  his  name  was  inserted 
in  the  public  prayers ;  the  consul  and  senate  swore  on  the 
kalends  of  every  January  to  obey  his  orders ;  under  the 
title  of  Imperator  he  held  the  command  of  the  army ;  and 
gradually  all  the  chief  offices  of  the  state  were  united  in 
his  person.  In  725  the  senate,  on  the  motion  of  L.  Mu- 
natius  Plancus,  conferred  on  him  the  title  of  Augustus, 
a  term  hitherto  only  employed  in  a  religious  sense.  He 
was  now  the  sole  master  of  the  Roman  world  ;  and  during 
the  space  of  nearly  half  a  century  it  enjoyed  beneath  his 
sway  a  degree  of  peace  and  tranquillity  such  as  it  had  never 
known  before. 


Though  the  last  period  of  the  republic  was  of  so  unquiet 
a  character,  literature  was  cultivated  with  much  ardor  by 
persons  of  rank  and  fortune.  The  language,  the  philoso- 
phy, and  the  poetry  of  the  Greeks  were  familiar  to  every 
Roman  of  education  ;  a  library  formed  an  essential  part  of 
every  respectable  house,  and  its  contents  were  chiefly  Greek. 
Roman  poetry  was  still  imitative,  and  the  drama  the  great 
object  of  imitation.  L,  Attius,  the  younger  contemporary  of 
Pacuvius,  may  be  regarded  as  the  last  of  that  rough  but  vig- 
orous race  of  poets  who  ventured  to  tread  in  the  foot-prints  of 
iEschylus  and  Sophocles.  But  the  higher  drama  seems  to 
have  been  as  unattainable  to  ancient  as  to  modern  Italy. 
Attius'  contemporary  C.  Lucilius  followed  Ennius  in  writing 
satires ;  of  these  he  left  several  books,  all  of  which  have  per- 
ished. In  the  time  of  Cicero,  T.  Lucretius  Carus  put  the 
physics  of  Epicurus  into  verse ;  and  in  no  portions  of  Ro- 
man poetry  is  the  true,  the  born  poet,  so  discernible  as  in 
those  where  his  ill-chosen  subject  allowed  him  to  give  free 
course  to  his  genius.  C.  Valerius  Catullus  was  also  a  poet 
of  true  genius ;  grace,  elegance,  ease,  and  feeling  strongly 
characterize  many  of  his  extant  poems. 

Numerous  histories  also  were  written  in  this  period  :  L. 
Calpurnius  Piso  and  Coelius  Antipater  in  the  time  of  the 
Gracchi  wrote  histories  of  Rome,  and  they  were  followed  by 
Cn.  Gellius,  Q,.  Claudius  Q,uadrigarius,  Q,.  Valerius  Antias, 
(notorious  for  mendacity,)  and  C.  Licinius  Macer,  with 
whom  the  series  of  annalists  ends.     Histories  of  their  own 


476  HISTORY    OF   ROME. 

lives  or  times  were  written  by  C.  Fannius,  Sempronius 
Asellio,  P.  Rutilius,  L.  Cornelius  Sisenna,  d.  Catulus,  L. 
Sulla,  L.  Lucullus,  and  others.  C.  Junius,  named  Grao 
chanus  from  his  friendship  with  C.  Gracchus,  wrote  a  valu- 
able history  of  the  constitution,  which,  though  lost,  is  medi- 
ately the  chief  source  whence  our  knowledge  of  it  is  derived. 
The  only  historian  of  this  period  of  whose  works  any  perfect 
^portions  have  reached  us  is  C.  Sallustius  Crispus.  This 
writer  seems  to  have  taken  Thucydides  as  his  model,  but  he 
can  by  no  means  stand  a  rivalry  with  the  great  Athenian. 
CaBsar's  narrative  of  his  own  wars  is  a  perfect  specimen 
of  that  species  of  composition  to  which  it  belongs.  The 
various  writings,  oratorical,  philosophical,  and  didactic,  of 
Cicero,  are  well  known  and  most  justly  admired.  Of  the 
numerous  works  of  M.  Terentius  Varro,  the  most  learned 
of  the  Romans,  but  a  small  portion  has  been  preserved. 

We  have  thus  traced  the  history  of  Rome  from  the  time 
when  she  was  only  a  village  on  the  Palatine  to  that  when 
she  became  the  mistress  of  the  world ;  a  future  work  will  be 
devoted  to  the  history  of  the  enormous  empire  of  which  she 
now  only  formed  a  part.  In  the  progress  of  Rome  to  do- 
minion it  is  difficult  not  to  discern  the  hand  of  a  predis- 
posing cause ;  the  steadiness  and  perseverance  of  the  Roman 
character ;  the  preponderance  of  the  aristocratic  elements  in 
her  constitution  at  the  time  of  her  conflicts  with  her  most 
powerful  rivals ;  the  advantage  which  the  unity  produced  by 
a  capital,  as  a  fixed  point,  gave  her  over  the  brave  but  loose 
federation  of  Samnium,  and  her  armies  of  citizens  and  allies 
over  the  mercenaries  in  the  pay  of  Carthage ;  and  the  cir- 
cumstance of  all  other  states  being  in  their  decline  when 
she  engaged  them,  —  all  tend  to  show  that  the  empire  of  the 
world  was  reserved  for  Rome.  But  in  the  attainment  of 
this  empire  she  was  also  destined  to  lose  her  own  freedom. 
Neglecting  to  enforce  her  agrarian  laws,  and  not  being  a 
commercial  state,  she  possessed  no  middle  class  of  citizens,* 


*  L.  Marcius  Philippus,  when  proposing  an  agrarian  law  in  his  tribu- 
nate, (648,)  asserted  that  there  were  not  two  thousand  citizens  who 
were  possessed  of  property,  ("  non  esse  in  civitate  duo  millia  hominum 
qui  rem  haberent."  Cicero,  Off.  ii.  21.)  Many  of  the  leading  families 
of  both  orders  in  the  early  ages  of  the  republic  must  have  died  off,  or 
have  dwindled  into  insignificance,  in  consequence  probably  of  there 
being  neither  law  nor  custom  of  primogeniture.  In  the  Fasti  and 
history  of  the  last  6entury  we  rarely  meet  the  names  of  the  Quinetii, 


I 


CONCLUSION.  4t7 

without  which  there  can  be  no  permanent  liberty  ;  the  Hor- 
tensian  law  placed  all  political  power  at  the  disposal  of  the 
lower  order  of  the  people ;  the  incessant  foreign  wars  cor- 
rupted the  genuine  Roman  character,  and  the  constant 
influx  and  manumission  of  slaves  further  debased  it.  Mean- 
time the  government  of  provinces,  the  conduct  of  wars,  and 
the  farming  of  the  public  revenues,  enabled  some  of  the  no- 
bility and  the  knights  to  acquire  immense  wealth,  with  which 
they  purchased  impunity  for  their  crimes  and  the  lucrative 
and  influential  offices  of  the  state  ;  for  the  votes  of  electors 
without  property  are  always  in  danger  of  becoming  venal. 
The  consequence  of  this  condition  of  society  was,  as  we 
have  seen,  a  century  of  turbulence  and  anarchy,  ending  in  a 
despotism. 

Manlii,  Fabii,  Furii,  Decii,  Curii,  and  never  those  of  the  Horatii,  Me- 
nenii,  Veturii,  Genucii,  Icilii,  Numitorii.  The  Virgilii  of  the  late,  are 
probabl  V  the  Virginii  of  the  old  Fasti ;  Atilius  and  Atinius  (like  Man- 
lius  and  Mallius)  are  perhaps  the  same. 


CHRONOLOGICAL   TABLE 


CONTEMPORARY   fflSTORY. 


Note.  —  It  would  be  impossible  to  present  the  reader,  in  this 
table,  with  a  complete  view  of  the  contemporary  history  of  all 
nations.  The  fulfilment  of  that  design,  though  highly  useful, 
would,  of  itself,  occupy  a  volume.  The  reader  may  be  referred 
to  a  work,  in  which  it  has  been  carried  out  through  the  whole 
range  of  ancient  History,  entitled,  "  Comparative  View  of  Ancient 
History,  and  Explanation  of  Chronological  Eras,"  by  the  editor 
of  this  volume.  What  can  be  here  done  will  be  merely  to 
present  a  view  of  the  principal  events  which  transpired  in  the 
most  renowned  among  the  nations  of  antiquity,  at  about  the  same 
time  that  the  most  marked  events  took  place  in  the  history  of 
Rome.  The  details  may  be  filled  up  by  reference  to  the  work 
already  mentioned.  It  is  most  important,  in  the  study  of  individual 
histories,  that  a  knowledge  should  be  constantly  present  of  the 
contemporary  events  transpiring  in  other  nations  or  members  of 
the  great  human  family. 


Years 

of 
Rome. 

So" 

Erenta  of  Rome. 

Events  of  Greece. 

Event*  of  other  Nations. 

1* 

,.3| 
743  > 

721 
715 

Rome  founded :  Romu- ) 
lusking 1 

\ 

A 

Bocchoris    king    of 

11 
to 

I 

First  Messenian 
war. 

\ 

Egypt. 

30 
33 

1 

Israel   destroyed   by 

39 

Numa  Pompilius. 

I 

Assyria. 

*  See  "  Comparative  View,  &c.,  and  Explanation  of  Chronological  Eras,"  as  above, 
p.  92,  title  "  Era  of  the  Foundation  of  Rome ; "  and  "SyncAronotw  Table,"  in  the  same 
work,  p.  116. 


CHRONOLOGICAL    TABLE. 


479 


Tears 
B.  C. 


Events  of  Rome. 


Events  of  Greece. 


Events  of  other  Nations. 


671 1 
672 
640 
616 


594 

578 

559 

534 
509 


431 

404 
390 
356^ 

338) 
336 

321 

280  j 
264^ 

201) 
216 
197 
188  1 

130) 
168 


133 
133 


121 : 

111 


106 


Tullus  Hostilius. 

Ancus  Martius. 

L.  Tarquinius  Priscus. 

Servius  Tullius. 

L.  Tarquinius  Superbus. 
Royalty  abolished. 

Internal  discontent | 

Romans  send  to  Greece  t 
for  laws  ;  whence  12  ) 
tables  framed ( 

i 

Incursion  of  Gauls 

Pyrrhus  of  Epirus  con- 
tends with  Rome .... 

Punic  wars | 

Battle  of  Cannaj. 

Asia  Minor  chiefly  sub- 
ject to  Rome. 

Conquest  of  Macedon... 

Rome  masters  of  Greece. 
Destruction  of  Car- 
thage  

Macedon  a  Roman  prov 
ince. 

Numantine  war. 
Death  of  the  Gracchi. 


Jugurthine  war.. 

Social  war 

Sulla  and  Marius. 
Servile  war 

Mithridatic  war.. 


Second  Messe- 
nian  war. 


Solon  archon  of 
Athens. 


Persian   wars 
commence. 


Internal   dissen- 
sions. 

Peloponnesian 
war 


Sacred  wars... 

Alexander  the 

Great J 

Division  of  his  ) 
empire ) 

Achaean  league. 

Internal  dlssen-  i 
sions ) 


Battle  of  Cor- 
inth, and  fall 
of  Greece. 


Judah  subverted  by 
Babylon ;  70  years' 
captivity  begins. 


Babylon   falls    before 
Cyrus. 


Ezra  renews  ancient 
system  of  polity 
among  the  Jews. 


Palestine  under  Per- 
sia till  time  of  Al- 
exander the  Great; 
thence  under  his 
Successors  in  Syria. 


Ptolemy  of  Egypt  con- 
quers Palestine. 


Parlhia    rises,    under 
Arsaces. 


Jews  subject  to  Syria. 


Jews,  under  Macca- 
bees, throw  off  Syr- 
ian yoke. 


Egypt    in    continual 
turmoil. 


#•• 


480 


CHRONOLOGICAL   TABLE. 


Tean 

of 


Teu* 

B.C. 


ErenU  of  Rome. 


Eventi  of  Greece. 


Eventa  of  other  Natioiu. 


to 
701 
706 
710 

711 

712 

723 

724 


7S7 


51 

48 

N44 

43 

-*42 

N31 

30 


"1 


Catiline's  conipiracy.... 

Gaul  reduced. 

Battle  of  Phanalia. 
Death  of  Ctesar. 
Triumvirate  of  OctavJa- 

nus,  Antonius,  and  Le- 

pidus. 
Battle  of  Philippi. 
Battle  of  Actiiim. 


Octavianus  first  emperor 
of  Rome,  under  the 
name  of  Augustus. 


Syria  a  Roman  prov- 
ince. 

Jerusalem  opened  to 
Pompey. 


Egypt  a  Roman  prov- 
ince. 


MONS.    BUGARD'S 
PRACTICAL   TRANSLATOR. 


TO  STUDENTS  AND  TEACHERS  OF  THE 
FRENCH  LANGUAGE. 

French  Practical  Translator  ;  or,  easy  method  of  learning  to  translate 
French  into  English.  Containing  i.  a  treatise  on  French  'pronuncia- 
tion; II.  the  general  principles  for  the  use  of  the  farts  of  speech,  and 
directions  for  finding  them  in  any  dictionary  ;  in.  a  collection,  of  in- 
teresting exercises,  the  difficulties  of  which  are  calculated  gradually 
to  increase  with  the  knowledge  of  students  ;  iv.  a  vocabulary  of  the 
different  words  used  in  the  exercises.     Second  Edition.    1837. 

This  is  the  title  of  a  book  intended  to  teach  how  to 
translate  French  into  English,  the  plan  of  which  is  en- 
tirely new,  and  calculated  to  promote  the  improvement 
of  those  who  use  it,  more  than  any  that  has  been  offered 
to  the  public.  With  it  students  can  at  first  commence 
the  translation  of  the  exercises  it  contains,  after  having 
merely  read  the  French  Grammar,  which  they  practically 
learn  in  translating,  without  being  obliged  to  commit  it 
to  memory. 

The  rapid  sale  of  its  first  edition  shows  evidently  that 
the  want  of  such  a  book  must  have  been  felt,  and  that  it 
has  proved  to  be  very  acceptable,  as  may  be  seen  from 
the  following  recommendations,  which  we  respectfully 
present  to  the  public  with  its  second  edition. 


B.£C0B^]VES:^DAT30»rS 

OF    THE    NEW    PRACTICAL    TRANSLATOR. 

Boston,  May  5,  1835. 
Sir, 

I  have  examined  the  sheets  you  put  into  my  hands,  and  am  happy  to  say,  that  I 
think  your  work  will  be  found,  both  by  teachers  and  pupils,  a  valuable  auxiliary 
in  the  acquisition  of  the  French  language.  The  manner  in  which  you  have 
obviated  the  principal  difficulties  in  the  first  lessons,  and  the  general  plan  of  the 
work,  make  it  a  very  useful  first  book  for  those  who  are  old  enough  to  study  with 
some  degree  of  judgment  and  discrimination. 

Very  respectfully,  yours,  T.  B.  HAYWARD. 

Mons.  Bugard. 


ECOMMENDATIONS. 


**  We  confidently  commend  the  work  to  the  attention  of  teachers  and  students. 
The  adoption  of  it  would  be  of  mutual  advantage,  as  both  would  be  relieved  of 
much  unnecessary  and  vexatious  labor.  The  community,  and  especially  that  part 
of  it  who  are  engaged  in  the  teaching  or  study  of  the  language,  are  much  indebted 
to  Mons.  BuGABD,  not  only  for  the  present  excellent  work,  but  for  his  '  Practical 
Translator,''  indisputably  the  best  work  of  its  character  ever  presented  to  the  Amer- 
ican public."  Bunker-Hill  Jiurora,  and  Boston  Mirror,  Oct.  1838. 


French  Practical  Teacher. — The  North  American  Review  for  October, 
1838,  speaks  of  this  work  in  high  terms  of  recommendation.  It  will  probably  soon 
become  the  class-book  iu  all  our  seminaries  where  the  French  Language  is  taught. 
The  Review  says : 

"  We  recommend  this  book  to  the  attention  of  all  teachers  and  students  of  the 
French  Language.  It  is  the  best  of  its  kind  that  has  ever  fallen  in  our  way  ;  and 
we  should  think  it  impossible  for  any  one  of  tolerable  capacity  to  go  through  it 
faithfully,  without  a  very  competent  knowledge  of  French.  The  student  is  taken 
through  a  series  of  rules  and  exercises,  in  which  no  part  of  speech  is  employed,  until 
its  use  has  been  fully  stated  and  illustrated.  The  Rules  are  numbered,  and  there 
are  abundant  references  to  them  by  figures  in  the  Exercises.  At  the  end  of  the 
book  is  a  Vocabulary  of  all  the  words  used  in  the  Exercises,  so  that  no  other  Dic- 
tionary is  wanted  in  writing  them.  The  whole  plan  is  carried  through  with  great 
care  and  fidelity.  Fabricando  fit  faber  is  the  author's  motto  ;  and  he  has  produced  a 
work  calculated,  we  think,  to  facilitate,  in  no  ordinary  degree,  the  student's  labour 
in  acquiring  the  French  Language."  JVortluSvier.  Rev. 


"  Bugard's  French  Teacher. — Munroe  &  Francis,  of  Boston,  have  just  published 
a  work,  entitled, '  The  French  Practical  Teacher.'  There  are  a  number  of  good 
French  Grammars  extant — indeed  good  books  on  almost  every  study  abound  among 
us — but  after  having  carefully  examined  this  work  of  Mr.  Bugard,  we  are  strongly 
impressed  in  its  favor — it  appearing  to  us  decidedly  superior  to  any  French  Grammar 
we  have  seen.  The  plan  of  it  is  in  a  great  degree  original — and  we  are  induced  to 
believe,  that  it  will  take  the  place  of  other  Grammars  of  the  French  language.  With 
this  work,  an.l  Mr.  Bugard's  Practical  Translator,  a  person  may  easily  master  the 
French  language  without  any  other  assistant." — Mercantile  Journal,  Oct.  17, 1838. 


From  Professor  Eltor,  Providence,  R.  I. 
Dear  Sir,  Brown  University,  Nov.  8th,  1838, 

I  have  examined  with  much  pleasure  your  "  French  Practical  Teacher,"  and 
consider  it  as  decidedly  superior  to  the  French  Grammars  generally  used.  It  is  ex- 
ecuted throughout  with  judgment  and  ability  ;  the  arrangement  is  lucid  and  philo- 
sophical, the  rules  are  developed  with  perspicuity,  and  the  exercises  are  highly  ap- 
propriate and  admirably  adapted  to  the  practical  purposes  of  instruction.  I  trust 
the  work  will  meet  with  a  favorable  reception  from  the  public. 

Very  respectfully,  yours,  ROMEO  ELTON, 

Mons.  B.  F.  Bugard. 

P.  S.  I  wished  to  examine  your  Grammar  fully  before  I  gave  a  recommendation, 
or  I  should  have  written  you  earlier.  R.  E. 


